Geology [Featured Battle]

[Hysteria]

Closed to The Coralian Outcast, Logan, black shadow and Fox Owen Xavier (for now). Please refer to this thread (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?29138-Alert!-Trade-Disruptions!) to register and this thread (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?29177-Geology-Talk-Thread) for general talk.

The carts cracked and groaned as they cut a slow tract across the country side. Four in all, the carts carried a mixture of fighters, weapons and goods. The group was mostly a policing force, given some goods in order to lure out whatever nefarious force sought to disrupt the trade route. So far the trip had been quiet. The forests sung a lazy tune as wind rustled through their leaves, and fields danced with rippling gold as stalks of wheat swayed in tune.

Two hours had passed and the carts continued their steady pace pulled forward by teams of two and three donkeys. The road cut through the country side, on one side the dancing gold, the other the singing green and above the sky of blue. The odd bird had followed the carts when the journey had begun in hopes of catching the odd discarded piece of food. For the last ten minutes however they had disappeared. The air seemed colder, the trees song somehow mournful and the wheat a funeral dance.

Jacob, the self appointed leader of this group of force stood up from his position at the front of the carts. His long blonde hair caught the wind, joining the wheat in a golden dance. His breastplate was a bright shine, polished to perfection and his blue eyes scanned the forest for any signs of danger. He turned from his seat and looked back across the caravans. People were restless, but maintained a certain level of stoicism, at least most did. Some of them seemed completely unware of the danger that lay around every corner. People were sitting on the goods they were transporting in the full carts, while other sat in empty ones fiddling with their gear.

“Call out any movement!” Called Jacob, turning back towards the road and placing a hand on his driver’s shoulder, “Don’t worry yourself Jeane, we are more than a match for anything in these forests short of the Corone Rangers!”

Jeane, a small man dressed in simple leather smiled weakly and flicked the reins to urge the donkeys forward.

[Logan]

Somehow Logan had emerged from the Red Forest and Lindequalme alive and in tact, and more importantly, with Max Dirks still alive. After all they'd seen and did together, that mission was easily the most difficult and trying. In an attempt to forego adventure for a little bit, the psion took leave of his criminal comrade and found a tiny band of mercenaries and guardsmen setting out to patrol the trade routes just south of Radasanth. Inwardly, he hoped for some respite from the chaos Pode and her minions unleashed upon him.

Unfortunately, he couldn't remain anonymous by simply joining up as himself, so he took to the next best option. The day before the little troop was set to leave, the psion drugged one of the guardsmen and took his place. The armor didn't fit quite perfectly, and the helm was a bit much to adjust to, but at least he wasn't distinguishable from the other rank and file.

The psion adjusted his newly acquired set of armor in a half-hearted attempt to find whatever minimal comfort he could. The patrol was supposed to last a few days at most, and he figured the time away from everything -- thoughts of Pode, her minions and army, Dirks, but most importantly Lily -- would be good for his mind. It wasn't every day you watch as your love takes her final breaths, and he hadn't taken it particularly well. Even if what he saw was merely Pode's illusions at work.

As Jacob barked out orders, Logan followed in line. He had been "assigned" to one of the carts, and took his place atop the merchandise. He tried to focus his energies on the various whispers and conversations around him. Someone mentioned the patrol might be an attempt to lure out some bandits, and the psion sighed. If bandits were the worst they'd come across, he would be just fine.

Logan laid back atop the cart as he scanned the sky above. Something didn't feel all that right about just how clean and blue it appeared, but he shrugged it off. Emerging from the Lindequalme left him a bit jumpy and overly attentive to minute details which held no real bearing on reality. Pode had that effect on people, he surmised. His hand reached up and closed the lid to his helm, giving himself a moment's reprieve as he drifted off into a very light slumber.

[black shadow]

Black Shadow stood within his caravan, bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. His senses could not have been higher. The slightest tap of a rock against the wheels was like a boulder smashing against a mountain to him. The sky, a dull grey to others, was filled with light. Something was coming, and soon, Black Shadow could just feel it.

Others had fallen asleep or become comfortable with this trip, but not Black Shadow. This was a mission. Find whatever was disrupting the caravans and kill it, plain as that, and you never know when the creature would reveal itself. There would be no time to lose when the monster showed itself, those who were asleep would surely die, and those that were unprepared would never survive to the beasts death. It was a shame.

A noise filled Black Shadow's ears and he could feel the earth shake slightly beneath his feet. It is near. He thought to himself, notching his arrow. A gentle breeze blew across his face bringing another sign of the creature to come... the scent. Shadow had not experienced this before, whatever was ahead of them was close. The battle would no longer be to defeat the horrible monster, and Black Shadow knew this, the battle would be fought for survival. Men would die today, and it was Shadow's goal to keep as many alive as possible.

[The Coralian Outcast]

Year 3 Day 245

I have herd that dady had helpt fite and kil a sik dragon. I want to help peepl. I herd som gards wer going owt to find the case of a "disrupshin in the trade." So tonight I will sneek into a wagon and go for the ride. Thanks dady for the sword lesons. At least you did something rite.

Alexander Relt Larsh stayed as still as possible. It was surprisingly easy for the four year old to slip into a wagon. Then again, his height would have made anyone think he was an adult human. However, the fact was that his mentality was that a human's ten year old while his physique was that of a fit early teen. Not that you could tell the child's physique with that dark blue robe that covered him head to toe. This was probably why it was so easy to sneak on board the wagon. They probably wanted as many able bodied people as possible and a hooded stranger usually was good in combat.

So here Alex was, in a cart as his survival instincts warned him about a great danger ahead. Can't tell when we'll be attacked but it's soon, Alex thought as the cart continued it trek toward the greatest danger he had ever felt. Really soon. Man I shouldn't be here, but I really want to help. Let's hope my swordsmanship is enough. So the wagons continued onward, unaware of the danger ahead.

[Fox Owen Xavier]

“One man’s lost is another man’s gain,” Fox thought as he reflected on the letter and mission he was currently on. “What happened to the simple naive world of good and bad, black and white, peaceful merchants and evil villains? Instead, you have many shades of grey. People guarding caverns for their own personal wealth, bandits stealing for their family’s survival, or someone like me who is just here as an agent to gather information for other powers. Powers which may or may not desire the success of this trek…”

“John, you've been around awhile, what is your opinion? Will this be a walk in the park like our high spirited golden leader thinks? Or will the ground be painted crimson with our blood?” Foxed asked as he cracked the whip over the misbehaving donkeys.

“This whole thing reeks of trouble if you ask me. The fact the job posting never specified what the threat was and the lack of battle harden mercenaries for our side. Between you and me, I think that one of the supplies is backstabbing his buyers and taking all the loot for himself,” his fellow agent wheezed back the best that the old wound on his throat would allow.

“Interesting idea, but guess we’ll have to hold that thought since I smell something wrong ahead,” the kitsune cut off further communication as his fox like nose sensed something strange in the gust of wind. Instead of putting the rest of the cavern on yet another false alert like some of the paranoid men, Fox waited to hopefully better grasp the situation before making the call.

[Logan]

After some time had passed the psion woke to the gentle rock of the cart as it rolled over small pebbles and stones. Of course, a gentle rock of the cart meant stabbing pain into his back and sides from the small pile of weapons beneath him. Steel and iron swords, daggers, axes, and even crossbow bolts lined the floor of the cart. He reached around to his back in an attempt to move the metal points from piercing into his exposed flesh, but instead quickly realized the guardsman's armor he wore tremendously restricted his mobility and movement.

Shit, he thought to himself. As methodically as he could manage, the psion rose into a seated position, and reached beneath his posterior to rearrange the weapons to provide as much comfort as possible given the circumstances. It was then he noticed the sky and surroundings had undergone a transformation while he slumbered.

Gone were the blue of the sky, amber of the wheat, and the green of the treeline; all replaced by somber and sullen hues of gray. The change prompted a subtle shift in the psion's focus and attention. The drowsiness and grogginess were replaced by alertness and readiness. His senses tuned in more keenly, prepared for whatever may come their way. He glanced about, and took an inventory of the rank and file.

The self-assigned leader of the small band of men and creatures was, at least in Logan's opinion, a pompous ass. Jacob projected confidence, and also arrogance. The shine of his armor suggested he cared more for his appearance than he did for his troops. After all, wouldn't a truly heroic leader's armor show the signs of battle? The way his hair flowed suggested he most likely never tussled with foes near enough to death to take advantage. The way he called to his inferiors wreaked of organized training as a commander, but far less experience as a leader. He wanted to be respected as the commander, but the way he went about it just didn't sit right with the psion.

Perhaps he was wrong, but Logan made the note to keep an eye on Jacob. Something smelled fishy, and it wasn't the scent of day old tuna coming from the birds swooping around the carts.

[black shadow]

Not one living creature could be seen at this point. The only sound that reached Black Shadow's ears was the sound of what was to come. With every second it grew, louder and yet louder. It would not be long before the caravans reached their target.

All scenery seemed to become dull. The light breeze stopped and most, if not all plans life began to die in this area. The sky quickly became cloudy, covering the warm rays of the sun. The smells of the grasses and flowers throughout the countryside turned to that of dust and death.

Most of the men were now awake, taking note of the sudden changes. Many sharpened their swords while others put on their armor. Then there were the few who did not take these signes seriously.

"Dude, put your bow down, we will be fine," Black Shadow heard the man who rode in the same caravan as himself. Black Shadow just ignored him. you can never be too ready, just unprepared. he thought to himself, trying to loosen his shoulders.

[Hysteria]

A cracking sound. It was like the limb of a tree being caught and pulled apart. It was a cracking, tearing crunch that ripped through the air. The carts vibrated, the ground vibrated and even the air vibrated. A line ripped across the ground in the forest to the row of cart’s right. For a moment silence descended on the forest, carts and field, save for a few fevered shouts. The next moment the forest lifted into the sky as a creature pushed up from under the ground.

Two large emeralds eyes emerged from the ground, for a moment eye level with the mercanries. Dirt rained in front of it, cascading of the creature’s scaled skin. A short, sharp jaw followed, with lines of ivory teeth set into the jawline. The head lifted up and over the carts, rising a solid hundred metres into the air as two powerful front legs pushed the massive body upwards. The creature was wearing a large swathe of the forest like a cloak, unnerved by the tones of dirt and trees now acting like a pincushion across its back.

Only half of the dragon’s body had been revealed from the earth with the rest still buried. The creature’s height was several times the size of the carts, and covered nearly completely in thick green scales. Its bent, short snout turned towards the carts, and its large front facing eyes peered down.

“Prepare the weapons!” cried Jacob, lifting his sword towards the dragon, “prepare to-“

A burst of green engulfed the first cart. The breath was not quite fire, not quite liquid. It moved across all the surfaces it touched and hardened. Jacob’s surprised looking face was cast in clear, slightly green tinged, crystal. He would have fallen from his spot on the cart if the crystal hadn’t fastened him tight.

Jeane peeked around the side of the cart and past the frozen Jacob. He had twisted off his seat and taken cover the moment the dragon had appeared. Others in the cart, some with limbs covered in the strange crystal clambered out of it. The donkeys leading the cart had been frozen in place, the two on the dragon’s side completely, while the other two only partially covered bleeted with fear. Jeane pulled a hammer off the side of the cart normally used for hammering in the wheels and brought it down on the closest frozen donkey. The crystalline substance shattered, but the next hit found more resistance as it quickly hardened.

“Take cover!” “Smash the glass!” “Ready the ballista!” “Flee!”

The shouts from the mercenaries rose in confusion as they panicked. Some of the carts pulled out their cargo, revealing Alerar ballista, while others started to run. The dragon turned its face towards those fleeing and roared. This time his breath wasn’t a gas. Shards of his crystalline breath ripped through the air and rained death on the few mercenaries that had decided on running.

Perceptive, unpanicked watchers would have noticed the leather that was tied around the dragon’s neck. It seemed to form two large belts, each one attaching something larger on the outside of the neck and partially hidden behind the large scaled jaw. More obvious than the odd collar was the fact that the dragon lacked wings. Even with the earthen coat it seemed that this wasn’t a flying beast.

[The Coralian Outcast]

Alex's survival instincts told him to get out of the area as quickly as he could. However, his need to prove himself and to help others forced him to stay. He did however stand and got ready to attack. However, when the dragon appeared and attacked the first wagon he froze.

A dragon! The first thing I ever actually fight is a dragon! Then again, he should of saw it coming. These big events usually had to deal with a dragon. So with a shake of his head he looked at the dragon and tried to figure out what to do. His iron sword wasn't likely to be able to pierce that hide. Plus the fact that this dragon probably had a ton of experience in a fight put him on the disadvantage. The only advantage that Alex really knew he had was his survival instincts which would tell him when an attack was about to happen. Thank you Coralian instincts.

So Alex got ready to dodge every attack and hopefully distract this vile beast long enough to let the others kill it. Because really, what else is there he could do. So with a sigh of resignation he jumped off the cart and moved over far enough to keep the beast from crystallizing the carts then did something anyone would think was stupid. He picked up a rock then through it at the creature with the hope that the rock would hit the eye so that the creature would focus on him. His instincts blared at him to get out of there, to just run, but Alex stood his ground and readied himself to dodge or die.

[Logan]

The psion had to chuckle a little at the emergence of the enormous creature. Logan's whole purpose for joining up with the band of men and creatures was to relax a bit under the guise of a leisurely patrol along the trade routes. Instead, he was thrust into what would most likely be a massive melee between the way too underpowered group and their target, a dragon; not just any dragon, either.

In hushed whispers throughout Radasanth and Concordia were mentions of a magical beast without flight, but with plenty of fight. It was said the beast could stick a man dead in his tracks by encasing him in a crystal-like substance. The psion never really gave the rumors much thought. After all, how many dragons existed throughout the entirety of Althanas' history, and furthermore, how many could elude the Rangers, Ixian Knights, or any of the other countless guilds, clans and power groups?

There was no denying, of course, once the dragon was before him in all of its gigantic scaly flesh. The creature, at the very least, existed, and it seemed less than pleased with the small band's encroachment upon its territory.

Logan shifted inside the cart as it toppled and spilled to the side, away from the dragon's initial attack. He was thankful for the dragon's unintentional earthquake beneath the carts as it gave him perfect cover from the first assault. He peered over the side of the cart, which was now the top, and glanced about the battlefield. Ballistas, which had been hidden beneath cloth or other myriad of merchandise, were readied. The psion cursed himself for not paying more attention to the actual merchandise.

His hands reflexively reached down for his short swords and touched only the sides of his pants. "Shit," he remembered he left them behind because the shoddy, piecemeal armor didn't allow for them. The psion glanced at the cart and then the small cache of weapons beneath him. Perhaps the gods were smiling upon him for a change.

Logan reached down to snag the crossbow and a few bolts, but as he did the armor clanged against the side of the cart. Or maybe the gods weren't.

He silently cursed again under his breath, "Bloody hell." As quickly as he could manage, he slid from the armor just as the cracking sound of crystalline filled his ears. The psion reached down again for the crossbow, collecting the few bolts and slid them into his pockets.

With a deep breath for focus and control, he looked around the side of the fallen cart. The dragon was focused intently upon the cowards of the group, leaving Logan to do his best work. He took off at a full sprint, but before he could even make it a few yards from the transport, a young boy-creature thing threw a rock at the dragon drawing its focus and attention. There wouldn't be much of a window, but he took the chance anyways.

The dragon reared back and roared out into the forest a screeching sound, shaking not just the earth below, but the trees and everything within them, too. Flocks of birds amassed from the treeline, escaping into the great abyss above. The large creature centered its focus on the small boy, letting forth another assault of the oozing substance.

Lowering his head, Logan slammed into the small boy and turned into a roll past the first cart and the crystalline statue of Jacob. The ooze followed behind the two of them as the dragon's focus remained on the two rolling 'heroes'. The psion's only hope was someone, anyone, distracting the dragon.

[black shadow]

Black Shadow done from the caravan, the crystallizing goo barely missing his legs. A quick roll helped break his fall, and keep him from injury. Dragon... Why is it always a dragon? black Shadow thought, standing again. He looked back, noticing the caravan was invaded in the crystals, yet the inside appeared to be untouched, His fellow mercenary pounding from inside trying desperately to escape. poor soul.

The attention turned back to the beast as a monstrous roar came from its throat. To his right, shadow could see a man tackle another, saving him from the fate that should have come. Black Shadow scanned for cover, noticing another caravan tipped in it's side. Using a burst of speed, Black Shadow dove into the back, pulled out an arrow, and shot at the dragon. His head ducked into what he hoped to be safety as the dragon released another volley of crystallizing goo.

Black Shadow covered his head, hoping if he was to be hit, it would at least leave him alive. A wave of relief came over him as he could hear a crackling noise. He looked up, seeing the good turn into solid crystal. it worke... Now what? he thought, trying to stand. There was a thick piece of fabric he stood on, and something big was underneath. Ripping the cloth away, shadow revealed one of the unused ballista. this could work.

A loud crack could be heard through the battlefield as the ballista shot a hole through the crystal. Black Shadow stepped out, and the dragon had his eye on something else. He used this time to look back at the boy and man he "saved earlier", but they were out of his current view. His attention then turned back to the monster, studying its every move. what is that thing around his neck?

[Fox Owen Xavier]

“Take cover,” Fox yelled as he instantly responded to the unexpected monster. Jumping behind the wagon, he avoided losing his nerves and turned his attention to the dragon and the mad man who was supposed to be his ally. On the other side of the cart, ‘old John’ didn’t bother hiding his intent to switch to plan crimson. He quickly unloaded his crossbow and begun cranking it up while staring at his target with a grin pasted on his face.

“Damn it!” Fox thoughts had a dual meaning as an earth shattering roar nearly ruptured his sensitive eardrums amidst the crystal storm. He knew mad John would be okay for certain reasons that was obvious to his nose, but the other panicking fools who come on this adventure were far from safe.

The alchemist could only sigh as running humans’ screams caught the enraged dragon’s attention. He was far from calm himself but at least knew that running in the open plain was a death wish. At least his sneaking over a blood stained corpse and behind the fourth wagon had purpose behind it. The potion maker could clearly see from here mercenaries with range weapons firing at the armor like scales of the dragon and a few brave men operating the ballista. The leather straps on the beast made Fox pause for a second to wonder what they could be for but he immediately snapped back to the situation as he saw a flicker of color fly past him.

Thud. Plan crimson reared its ugly head as a nearby mercenary collapsed with a bolt through his heart. Everyone was so focused on the great foe that they were oblivious to the traitor inside their midst.

“There’s only trinkets here… Guess blood is a small price to pay for the organization especially since they deal in killing,” Fox sadly reflected as he drew his redwood bow to take aim. “Hero, traitor, fool, coward, what do I want to do and become?”

[Hysteria]

The dragon turned its head to the side and brought it around in a long spray of its crystallising breath. The attack had nowhere near the intensity of the first, instead spreading thin crystal across most of the exposed surfaces. Arrows and bolts paused for a second as men took cover before rallying again. The attacks flung up at the creature for the most part they were haphazard and bounced off the tough green scales. Ranged attacks seemed to have little effect against the creature at least when fired in haste and fear.


* * * *

Jack lifted up a shard of crystal to the light and peered through it.

“Sir… I-“

Jack held up his hand and silenced the man. He turned his face towards him, the light shining through the crystal covered his face in dappled light.

“Have you heard of Magicite henchman number 1?”

“Its Sm-“

“Henchman number 2 if you keep up that attitude,” Jack lifted the crystal towards the henchman, “This stuff seemed to be a crude form of that most magical mineral. Every time this- whatever- attacks we can get a mound of this stuff. We’ve been stockpiling it, got more than enough to make back our money when the trade route is cleared. The more men we throw at it, the richer we become.”

Jack turned back to the crystal and smiled.

[Logan]

Logan and the child-like creature rolled alongside the second tipped over cart. The psion tugged the boy into the relative safety of the fallen cart as distractions began to fly all around them. Fortunes definitely seemed to be turning for the unlikely pair.

The dragon's attention was drawn by the various ballistas and ranged attacks, and the breath seemed to have missed and avoided the cart. "It should be safe for you here," Logan ordered the young boy.

The psion bolted from the cover of the tipped wagon. His eyes bounced about the battlefield, trying to assess the situation. There were guardsmen and those who were clearly not guardsmen, perhaps mercenaries. Some had engaged the dragon, others had attempted to flee only to be dropped by the dragon's crystal rain. At least rain was the closest thing Logan could think of the attack resembled.

His eyes fell to the leather straps around the neck of the dragon. They felt out of place to the veteran, almost to the point he couldn't ignore them. A thought crossed his mind, and he lifted the crossbow.

Logan readied a shot at the space between the straps. He would need time to steady his aim and to focus to slow his breathing. The only hope he had of the shot landing was if somebody could provide protection and keep the focus of the dragon. Could his luck keep up?

[black shadow]

Black Shadow stepped behind the caravan, taking cover in case the dragon turned it's attention back to him. Cries of pain and suffering as well as courage could be heard throughout the battlefield. Shadow could not help but turn towards his fellow mercenaries, and a look of horror washed over him as he watched some men kill eachother.

There's a dragon out there and they want to slaughter eachother? He thought. Then he noticed one of the men with crossbow in hand aiming at the dragon. Black Shadow judges his trajectory, an area between the "collar" and the neck of the beast. he noticed it too... He could come in handy.

One of the men who turned against the others took his crossbow, aiming it at the man. Black Shadow acted quick, ripping an arrow from his quiver. As the bolt from the crossbow was released, it was met with a steel arrow, knocking it out of he sky. The enemy's hands snapped to his neck, his body dropping lifeless to the floor. Black Shadow ended the man's life, hoping it would be worth it.

[Logan]

"Focus", the psion mumbled under his breath. Logan took a deep breath as he wiped a drop of sweat from his brow. All about the battlefield crystalline statues of men and creatures form where life once breathed. As he lifted the crossbow once more his heartbeat and breath steady and his aim true, the gurgle sound of death filled his tuned ears giving him pause. To his right, a fellow guardsman fell. Were the foes within the rank and file?

Around the guardsman's neck was a talisman of something similar to the crystal shards on the ground. The artifact was fastened with leather similar to the straps around the neck of the dragon. If the fallen guardsman wasn't friend, then he would be foe. And if he was foe, then he wasn't acting alone. And if he wasn't acting alone, then who else among the ranks was with him?

Logan's eyes darted about. He settled on the man who fell the guardsman, and gave a simple but appreciative head nod. The psion didn't have much choice, so he opted to align with the one who laid the guardsman out in hopes he might provide protection and cover as needed. Perhaps, even, they might just cease the destruction of the dragon, and perhaps they might even make it out alive.

The crossbow rose with steady aim at the space between the straps along the dragon's neck, but the psion didn't pull the trigger. A crystal at his feet began to hum slightly, and he glanced down. "What the...," he kicked at the small gemstone, and it exploded in a small burst of energy which knocked him onto the ground.

Logan looked around the makeshift battlefield rapidly. All around the crystal structures seemed to vibrate, hum or glow. Some seemed to do various combinations of the three. There were old wives tales of ancient gemstones with the ability to capture magic and output it as controlled energy, but it wasn't possible. Was it?

The psion rose to his feet as he gazed up at the creature. "Eh, fuck it. What do I have to lose," he wondered to himself.

The crossbow rose with a steady aim between the straps once more. He took a deep breath in and focused intently on his shot.

"Don't let me down," he whispered as he fired the bolt. The aim was true, but was it enough to do any damage?

[The Coralian Outcast]

I'm not that weak. Am I? Alex thought as the man who had tackled him left with a comment about Alex staying in the cart to be safe. Alex thought long and hard about his skills, he was a basic swordsman, he had no magical abilities yet, and he had no shield. Yeah, he was useless here. Who was I kidding when I snuck in to that wagon, I can't do anything. I'm useless. Is that why dad and mom left me? Alex then noticed that he wasn't alone in the cart. One of the guards that was a part of the main caravan had taken cover in the cart and seemed scared. Alex looked at him for a second then peeked around the cover of the wagon to see the dragon had taken out quite a few of the other guards.

I'm not the only one useless here. These men are not much use either. But at least I know... His thoughts were interrupted as he had to pull his head back into the cart in order to avoid a stray crystal breath that moved passed his head. Thank the kings for the warning, thought Alex as the last of the dragon's breath went passed him. It was then he noticed the crystals that formed on the ground where the dragon breath skimmed it. He went a grabbed the blue gem but quickly retracted it as he felt a headache come on.

The crystal pulled on my magic, Alex thought as his headache dissipated. This stuff is dangerous. I have to find a way to get some but not touch it. I don't think any form of magic could hold it as it seems to draw in the stuff. If only I had a sack of some sort. Alex looked around but didn't find anything he could use, at least, until he saw the small an empty quiver next to one of the coated giant bows. Perfect he thought as he snuck his way to the quiver and grabbed it before he pulled it back over to where he was before, he then found a piece of cloth in the caravan and grabbed it. With the cloth he picked up the crystal, a small amount of his magic was still pulled from him but his body had a higher recovery rate then the pull so he would be fine. Though, the magic in the air still made him slightly nauseous it wasn't going to stop him. He collected and contained a few crystals to be studied later, in a magic proof suite of course.

However, as Alex picked up the last of the gems he noticed this one started to glow and shake. With fear the young coralian threw away the gem which exploded upon contact with the ground. Alex looked at where the gem exploded then back at his stash before he smiled. Now I can fight. he grabbed a gem and started to channel his water magic into it. The magic quickly filled the gem and he started to overload it. As it started to shake, he looked at the dragon with a smile. However, before he could do anything, a bolt crossed his vision as it headed for the dragon's neck. He prayed to the kings that it would hit. He then saw another man aim his giant bow towards the bolt.

A traitor, Alex thought as he threw the gem at the man. The gem exploded into a torrent of water on contact and swept the man off his feet. The force of the water shattered the bow. Alex's mouth gaped before he jumped for joy and yelled, "YES! I'M NOT USELESS AFTER ALL."

[Fox Owen Xavier]

As Fox continued to hesitate, he began to observe several things amidst of the chaos. First, traitor John had been sniped by some other skilled archer leaving him dead. Second, people overall seemed to be split into three different groups: The save your life and run group aka cowards, the dragon slayers group aka fools, and the small opportunist group aka traitors. Finally, the crystals formed by the dragon’s breath seemed quite interesting as a material.

“Damn it, there are no good choices. Running away is risky due to the dragon. Not everyone is distracted so the betrayers will get executed and I don’t have a second life unlike someone. Guess that leaves dragon slaying which is not in my job description…” the wantabe archer finally let the arrow sail through the air. Unfortunately, without the strength and expertise, the enchanted dart plopped in the dirt far before reaching the giant target.

“Plan B… Time to help the group using the ballista since that weapon seems most likely to pierce the dragon’s hide,” Fox spoke to no one in particular. The three men around the siege weapon had already loaded the heavy oak ammo and were about ready to fire. However, one of the men had been badly wounded the crystal hail.

“Hey! You there with the wounds on your arm. How about letting me patch you up before you die from blood loss? I can take your place at the ballista once I stop the blood flow,” the kitsune approached the man groaning in pain on the floor of the cart. The injured warrior had managed to protect his head but at the cost of his arms. After surveying the damage, Fox wished he hadn't spoken up and given the guy a false sense of hope especially since the best solution might be amputation.

[Hysteria]

Logan’s bolt nicked one of the straps attaching the leather collar to the dragon before bouncing off the green scales. For a moment the dragon paused and stared out over the carts into the field. Its eyes turned this way and that, as if suddenly oblivious to the men below in favour of some internal struggle. The moment was short, the dragon turned back towards the carts and roared.

The air twisted in galls as the wind from the dragon’s mouth swept across the battle. The dragon dipped its head low and rivers of dirt poured off its back and fell with trees and rocks to join the gale. The air was not normal however. It was imbued with magic, magic that reacted to the crude crystals that now coated half the surfaces people cowered behind.

Jacob panted heavily as a stray stone had smashed into his chest and shattered the crystals that had encased him, leaving only his legs trapped. His smile was broad as he escaped death and looked around for something to free his legs. His mind was brought back as he felt the crystal around his legs start to hum, and most worryingly, heat up.

“Oh drat.”

Explosions erupted throughout the carts and the unlucky sods caught within. Mercenaries and guards screamed with pain as the crystal encased body parts were sawn clean off with the explosions. Those unlucky enough to be caught next to the crystals were likewise silences by explosions. Where the carts has been, remained only a few shattered pieces of wood and large craters. Cover would now be found in the dirt and behind wreckage.

Alex found himself in an unlucky situation. As well as needing to survive the explosions, the crystals he had been holding spontaneously erupted, blowing the fingers clean off his left hand.

As the dirt and chaos started to settle the air was filled with the cries for help. Only a handful of people were still mobile, and the scene had turned from a crystal pitched battle into a gore filled warzone. The dragon lifted its head back into the air and roared again, this time raining crystal shards onto the road. These captured the latent magic and would explode moments after impact.

Just to clarify, its 48 hours between my posts for the timelimit, so you might have three days between your posts. The number of posts for rewards might be better written as ‘post rounds’. Posts coming up after this post are at 4.

Things to contend with:
Wind was very strong, with dirt, stones and trees mixed in.
Explosions should pretty much affect everyone.
Alex (The Coralian Outcast) has lost his fingers on his left hand.
Crystal shards now explode.

Notes:
No need to stay on the road.

[Logan]

A pretty remarkable shot, and the dragon reeled a bit. The beast seemed confused or possibly conflicted, and the psion picked up on it. He lifted the crossbow for a second shot at the straps, but the winds picked up. These weren't ordinary winds, they were strong enough the psion was pushed back into a roll. Loud, ominous cracks rang through the area as trees were uprooted. A cart fractured as a tree ripped right through the wooden supports like they were butter, sending planks of splintered wood spinning about the battlefield.

As the psion rolled backward, a tree slammed into the ground. The impact of the trunk into the dirt dented a two foot circle around the tree as it dug deep into the earth below. Logan's roll rammed him into the tree and began to roll him past it, but his arm reached out and wrapped around the trunk as best he could. As the gales picked up in intensity, the crossbow slid from his fingers and joined the mixture of debris turned torpedoes.

He tried to take a deep breath, but instead only coughed up blood. The impact most likely broke a couple of bones, a rib or two, and probably inflicted some damage to his insides. The psion's eyes glanced about in an attempt to find the helper from before. He only needed a moment with him, but would he get it?

It was at that moment the crystals began to shatter and explode. Logan knew immediately they weren't exploding from the force of the wind or impacts, but from an energy overload. They were being fed elemental or arcane essence, and it was all coming from the dragon.

The first explosions took out a man to his right, completely severing his torso from his lower half before both halves swirled into the swirling tornado. The second explosions popped about twenty yards from the psion's position, sending dirt scattering and creating small four foot round trenches in the ground. The third explosions rang through his ears near where he'd left the young boy, and Logan squeezed his eyes shut.

He'd left the small boy in the cover of the cart, and after the explosion it was most likely nothing more than splintered piles of rubble. Was there a chance the young boy survived? Logan could only hold onto the small traces of hope. The psion gathered his thoughts as another set of explosions off to his other side ripped through the battlefield, sending bits and pieces of ballista and body flying through the winds.

An arm landed next to Logan, the hand still held fast to a length of rope which ran the length to where the owner of the body fell. The psion reached out and grabbed the rope. He tugged once and then twice. It was taught; most likely caught on something, or someone. He had no choice, and so he tied the end to the tree.

He crawled along the length of the taught rope, gripping as tightly as he could the entire way. Every few steps a crystal or two would explode below him, sending shards into his back and trenchcoat. Blood dripped from the wounds, but he somehow soldiered on. If he could just make it to whatever lay on the other end of the rope, he felt he had a chance to find some cover and maybe even escape.

All he needed was a little help, but would anyone come to his rescue?

[black shadow]

Black Shadow took a deep breath, peeking over the crystallized cart. The dragon seemed confused, conflicted, Black Shadow could not tell which it was. All he knew was that the dragon became agitated even more so now then he was before.

A hum came from the crystal surrounding the caravan, an obvious sign that something was to happen. Black Shadow began to run, the wind that had picked up nearly knocking him over. He made it roughly thirty feet before the crystal exploded, and the crystal throughout the rest if the field did the same. Debris flew through the air, some men being ripped to pieces from the impacts. Some stood, taking their fate, knowing what would happen, others were cowardice, hiding their heads, crying our to their gods who would not send help. It was a terrible sight to Black Shadow.

Black Shadow stood, if he was to die here it would not be like a coward. A quick survey of the battle field showed that most had been killed, and the dragon could tell this. It sent out fewer and fewer crystals, makingsure it did not waste it's breath. A turn to the right showed a tree rolling towards Shadow. His first reaction was to jump, but with this wind he would be blown back, and easily crushed by the tree. Instead he looked for a way out. There was a large crystal, humming just fifteen feet from Shadow. It was sticking straight up from the ground, nearly half if it under the earth. The explosion caught Shadow's attention. perfect.

Black Shadow dove, the wind taking him as far as he needed. The explosion created a five foot deep hole where it once was, three feet in diameter. As black Shadow made it into this hole, the tree rolled above his head, barely missing him. He peeked his head up again, another tree was dug into the ground, not giving in so easily. On it he saw the man he had saved before, hanging into a rope.

He acted quick, trying not to fall over. The wind smacked his face, trying to push him to the ground. if I can only reach that rope. he thought, forcing his way there. The rope was just three feet from his hole, but it felt like two hundred. Web he finally reached his target, he forced it to follow him. He reached his hole again, falling into it. This was beginning to take a tole on him.

He now waited, hoping the man would reach the destination. Would he?

[Fox Owen Xavier]

A bit bloody and there is one 'bad word'. Not Aure rated but I would say PG-13 just as a warning for younger eyes who might find it a bit offensive.

Even with his first hand dealings with death, Fox couldn’t help be feel a bit sicken as the man in front of him exploded. The crystals tore through his pale white arms like paper, spraying flesh and blood. If that wasn’t enough, the misfortunate man had his mid-section brutally ripped apart, spilling his bloody guts over the floor of the cart.

The scene had barely registered on the kitsune before the whirlwind tore through, grabbing the cart like a stick, and flinging it towards the alchemist. Fox did his best to evade the wreckage by downsizing to his smallest animal form. That proved to save his life from getting crushed but couldn’t help him avoid being caught inside the remains with what was left of the previous occupants.

“Gasp” rushed out Fox’s breath as one of the broads whacked him and tore into his side slightly. Gagging, he tried to recover his breath through the agonizing pain his enchanted senses brought forth. As the white stars of pain faded, his eyes found themselves staring at the dead upper half of one of the former humans.

Through the dim light from the cracked boards above, the survivor tried to grasp his situation. The wound in his side seemed to be non-life threating thankfully although the bleeding should be stopped. As for the other two riders, the human bomb was somehow still alive although about to head off the cliff of life. As for the other, he seemed to be alive but knocked out and bleeding to death probably from the crimson stained weapons that had butchered the third member of the ballista team.

“Bloody Hell!” Fox muttered to deaf ears as he carefully pulled himself out and wrapped his wound in the scarlet scarf to bind his wound. Taking a quick glance at the two surviving members, the kitsune could tell the one would be perishing within the hour, as for the other, there might be some hope.

Crawling his way past the dead eyes of the corpse, Fox arrived at his first destination. Waiting a few seconds for his ‘assistant’, the doctor whispered a “rest in peace” as he cleanly beheaded the dying man and sent him flying off the cliff of life and death. For the remaining survivor, he hesitated for a second before rummaging through the bloody pockets with the help of a kitsune firelight.

“Nope. Doesn’t seem like you have anyone who might be able to cover your medical bill. Farmers just don’t earn enough and your girlfriend or wife doesn’t look either. Sorry, but rest in peace,” the judge decreed.

Two swift chops of the axe took off another head in the darken depths of the upturned cart. Wiping off the blood, the executioner began to look for a way to free himself from the wooden prison.

[Logan]

Logan felt a tug on the rope, and then a pull. The movement shook his grip, but he held fast. A sense of urgency coupled with the hope of someone alive on the other end of the rope invigorated the psion. His slow pace turned into a sprint, and he closed down the final thirty or so yards in a matter of moments. The hole was a blessed site, a thing of pure beauty and solace.

He slid into the hole, exhausted and closed his eyes for a moment. His arms throbbed from the build up of acid. His legs quivered from the torment of the sprint along the rope. His chest heaved uncontrollably as he tried to gasp for breath, but failed repeatedly. Every ounce of his body ached. Then he opened his eyes.

A tall, lithe man dressed in black sprawled inside the hole against one of the walls. Was he the one who'd saved the psion from the crossbow bolt before? Logan had to venture a guess it was, because the rope sure didn't tug on itself.

Through bloody coughs and hacks, Logan introduced himself. "I'm Logan. I don't care...who you are. We need to...get to those leather...things...on that beast."

He tried to continue, but he couldn't. He hunched over and spit out a good-sized bit of blood before he tried to stand back upright. He shook his head.

Logan had experienced tremendous pain, even battled through it. That pain, however, was entirely different. He'd most likely punctured a lung along with the broken ribs and other assorted bones. The inability to catch his breath was, without a doubt, going to cause issues against the dragon. But if there was one thing about the psion, it was that he never gave up and he never gave in.

The psion's resolve was unlike any other, except maybe his good friend Max Dirks.

[Hysteria]

The young Coralian was probably not suited for the battle he found himself in. He starred in disbelief at missing fingers as he mind struggled to understand what was happening. This was his downfall. The air picked him up and flung him around like a rag doll. It was a near unconscious Coralian that landed with a thud and skidded into a larger wreck of a cart.

Perhaps Alex could have survived, if the wind had been followed by a pause so that he could catch his bearings. The crystal shards however were not a pause. One struck his leg and exploded, severing the limb from the knee down. Another struck his chest, and then darkness. More struck the upturned cart he had collapsed against. They smashed wood, embedded in the beheaded bodies within and finally exploded. It would have nearly been impossible to see the fox amid the carnage, whole and living one second, dead like the men he had taken morbid pity on a moment before.

The dragon paused and surveyed the carnage beneath it. There were a few movements and cries for help, but otherwise silence. Certainly no attacks were thrown its way. The creature pushed itself forwards. Before it had been stationary, with half its body still underground. Now it pulled itself out, with two massive hind legs pushed out of the ground, followed by a long sleek tail. The creature moved across the road and into the field and shook itself as it did. The remainder of earth and wood cascaded off its back and onto the road around the carnage. From the point of view of the road the creature towered above, a solid ten metres to its knees, a further ten to its belly and another ten to its large head.

It turned around as it finished exiting the hole and faced the road again. From inside its throat emanated a harsh clicking call which was echoed moments later from the hole. Dozens of smaller human sized lizards spewed forth and rushed towards the bodies on the road. The creatures were far smaller than the dragon, but mimicked its appearance. They moved on four legs, but the front two seemed something between an arm and a leg with three large claws that were as good a griping as running. Their faces were short with a squished snout and large eyes. They started their work, grabbing human, alive and dead, and dragging or carrying them back towards the hole.

It was then that another set of caravans turned the corner from within the forest and came face to face with the dragon and its hive-like copies. Before then had been sounds, now they could see what it was. The dragon opened its mouth and rained the explosive shards towards the new comers.

The Coralian Outcast and Fox are out. Three more people can join (I'll post in the main thread who).

The dragon won't using its area attacks where the little dragons are. However, the newbies will need to deal with one attack of the explosive crystals. If anyone runs, they get targeted.

[Logan]

The death cries of man and creature alike coupled with the gale force winds ripping across the top of the hole were simply deafening. Logan quickly realized his statements most likely just fell on deaf ears, so he instead utilized his best ability, telepathy.

"Look, we can't stay here. We have to get behind the dragon and get to the leather straps. I don't have time to explain, but we need to move. Now," the psion screamed telepathically at the shadow man.

After everything they'd been through, the silence which echoed about the area caught him entirely off-guard. Had someone or something defeated the beast? Logan tried to peer over the edge of the hole, but it was fruitless in his wounded condition. He doubled-over once more, gagging and gasping for breath. He spit more blood from his mouth before taking a deep breath in amid wheezing and more coughing.

Gathering his will and focus, he managed to reach the top of the hole only to find a couple of miniature copies of the larger beast peeking back at him. Large claws swiped downward at his hands, and he let go falling into a crumpled heap at the bottom of the hole. Another labored breath and he was back to his feet, sword ripped from its sheath. The first of the two creatures leaped into the hole, and pounced onto the psion.

The sword ripped through the scaly flesh of the lizard, the point ultimately sticking out through the other end of the creatures back. His face was turned aside as the smaller creature bit at him two or three times before falling limp. He thrust his sword to the side, kicking the creature off his blade and then kicking it once as hard as he could just out of spite. "Take that, bastard," he wheezed out.

Of course, it was his luck the second lizard at the top of the hole had seen the carnage and readied its own leap. Logan's only hope was the man of shadows could offer some assistance as the psion's blades would only offer so much resistance and only for so long.

[black shadow]

Black Shadow jumped when he heard the man's voice within his mind, he was not used to telepathic speaking. He nodded in acknowledgement, taking his bow ready to attack escape.

The smaller creature was hideous, and attacked without warning. Black Shadow peeked up only to see a second one peering into their hiding hole. With a swift motion an arrow pierced it's skull, causing it to fall limp into the gap. It landed on his leg, a sharp pain shooting up his body. He forced the creature, whatever it was, off him. The spine was solid and had pierced his leg. It would not be fatal, he could walk, but it would slow him down.

Black Shadow put his hand on Logan's chest, forcing him to remain seated. He the readied another arrow and climbed from the hole. The dragon had moved, and was no longer in front of them. instead it was to their right, and its attention was no longer aimed at them. Now was their chance.

Black Shadow reached down, helping his new partner from the hole. As they stood, more mini-dragons could be seen moving towards the two. I they were to do this, they would have to move quickly.

[Logan]

Logan was equally grateful for the help from the one whose name he did not know, as he was a bit taken aback by his peculiar silence. Most people the psion happened across would at least make some form of conversation, but this guy was different. It wasn't a bad thing, especially not for a telepath to run across someone who possessed a desire to remain silent. And who knew, maybe he wasn't silent at all, and just currently struck in fear of the giant dragon?

As they exited the hole, the psion held an arm over his midsection as he took shallow breaths in an attempt to mitigate as much of the pain from his ribs and lungs as possible. He spotted the four lizards bearing down on their position, and tapped the man on the shoulder and pointed. There was only one thing to do, and so Logan readied himself for another attack with his blades. He had noted the bow use earlier and hoped the nameless man might still have a few shots left in him.

Two of the four lizards circled around to the duos backside, and Logan turned to face them opting to go back-to-back with his unexpected comrade in arms. There would certainly be blood.

The first lizard leaped at Logan. It's claws swung rapidly at his chest and neck, but the psion's blades were too fast. The poor creature had one claw sliced entirely at the wrist joint, the other had a gash two inches deep from his blades. The lizard hissed and gasped in its own way at the pain. The second lizard seemed to think over the maneuvers for a moment longer before it leaned deep into a run at the psion, teeth bared and ready to strike.

Logan was too occupied by the first lizard he didn't catch the second in time, and it bit into a good portion of the psion's left leg. The immediate reaction was blade stabbing downward from the height of the psion's arms straight through the lizard's head and torso. The head of the lizard remained attached to his leg, but he had no time to spare as the first lizard shook off his earlier counter and lunged for him again.

The lizard pinned the psion onto the ground, but the psion had one trick up his sleeve he hadn't shown yet. He balled his fist and released it, and the lizard's eyes widened dramatically as it hissed and coughed, gasping for breath. Logan had control over air, and the lizard was beginning to experience mild asphyxiation, which was enough of a distraction for the psion to roll the attacker off him. He simultaneously kicked at the head stuck to his leg, the lizard dead for a few moments at that point in hopes he could remove it before rigor mortis set in.

The lizard head finally detached, leaving deep teeth mark wounds and slices along his left leg. Logan was lucky it hadn't bared his bones, and had only managed to sink in just above the muscle points. The lizard still alive continued to gasp and hiss out coughs as it tried to gain its breath back, much like a cat does with a hairball. The psion seized the moment and thrust his sword up into the neck of the lizard. The creature flailed its arms at the psion, but the distance was enough.

Logan sliced his other sword up lengthwise along the abdomen of the beast, it's insides falling out onto him. The psion opened the lizard's intestines unintentionally, small bits of guardsmen and other creatures poured out along with some acidic substance which forced him to roll onto his side to avoid. The lizard's mostly empty corpse fell to the ground with a soft thud.

Hopefully his counterpart had fared similarly and dispatched of the other two lizards.

[Alyssa Snow]

“I thought you said there would be trouble on this trip?” Alyssa whined to the caravan driver. The young gunner nestled herself between the cargo with her back to the driver’s seat and legs lazily crossed in the midst of various objects.

“Been nothing but bad news and missing wagons up this route. There's bound to be trouble. Why they still send goods on this trail is a damn mystery to me, but the pay is fantastic!” the gruff scalawag replied. He cracked the reigns on the two laboring donkeys which largely ignored the incentive to speed up.

“How much are they paying?” the young blonde inquired as she fiddled with the new magnetically driven cylinders of her revolvers.

“Two hundred thousand gold if we get everything through unharmed.”

Alyssa’s hands jolted and accidentally disengaged the coupling of the cylinder to the frame, sending it clattering elsewhere. Even between the mercenary guards, drivers, and help, that much gold could easily purchase a fine mansion in the Radasanth proper. The girl’s mind couldn't wrap around the number.

“T-Two hundred thousand?!” She exclaimed while she searched for her missing component. “Who’s funding this?!”

The driver snapped the reigns again to no avail and let an expletives slip his lips. He took a deep breath to calm his impatience and cracked the weariness of the drive from his neck.

“Fuck if I know,” he finally returned. “Some dicey looking fellow approached me and my boys with the proposition. Said we looked ‘crazy enough’ for the job. Though I nearly put my boot to his face for the insult, he spoke a bit of truth – I’d do anything for the right amount of coin!” The grizzled man unleashed a laugh somewhere in the median of insane and genuinely happy.

“Great…” Alyssa muttered. “So that’s why you couldn't pay up front…”

“To late to turn back now, lass!” the driver confirmed with another chortle.

Dread set into the pit of the girl’s stomach. With a payout that high, Alyssa knew their mysterious benefactor didn't expect them to succeed. She needed a ride back to Radasanth and with her coin purse starting a housing development for moths, everyone she asked refused her free passage to town. When she came across the flier looking for muscle to escort a caravan to town, Alyssa hopped on the opportunity. She saw it not only as her ticket to town, but a chance to fill her pockets with something other than cloth munching tenants. The girl shook her head at her own nativity and let out a sigh.

“Not to worry, lass. We’re less than a day out, at this rate—“

Explosions, screams, and roars of destruction wrested the words from his mouth. Over the crest of the ridge line, debris sputtered into the cloudy sky. The donkeys, unmoved by the driver’s prior encouragements, now jumped and jerked the cart forward in their terrified sprint. Alyssa was thrown into the crates around her and one of them kindly tapped her in the back of the head. While she gripped her skull, the rogue cylinder rolled to the base of her feet.

“What the hell was that?!” She exclaimed over the ruckus and reached for her missing component.

“Slow down!” was all the driver managed to respond as he struggled to control the spooked animals. Like before, they ignored his demands and blindly rushed down the path…

Alyssa triumphantly snatched up the cylinder and pushed it back into the frame. When she brought her eyes up, the scene that unfolded beyond her employer’s shoulders horrified her. Memories of Forral’s Fortress flooded into the back of her mind.

Bodies, limbs, wood, metal, and mysterious green glass painted the expanse in carnage. Alyssa watched slack-jawed as a young mercenary and the familiar face of a kitsune became one with a myriad of splinters, dirt, and exploding crystal. Her wide, blue eyes traced back to the source of the carnage and somehow widened further at the massive reptilian beast.

“Damn it!” the driver cursed, jerking the reigns as hard as he could to deflect the stubborn steeds away. “Everyone ready your weapons!”

His words pierced through Alyssa’s shock and pulled her back to reality. Her mind raced, but quickly prioritized her actions.

“Incoming!” she heard in the distance.

A hail of green shrapnel rained down from the dragon’s gaping maw. Shards cut through the canvas of the caravan as though it were made of tissue and embedded inches deep into wooden crates. Thanks to the driver’s efforts, they managed to veer out of the worst of the onslaught. The wheels of the wagon struggled against the rough terrain of the wilds, and Alyssa gripped one of the embedded fragments to help her balance.

What the…

From the stone, energy pulsed into the homunculus girl at such a rate the hairs on her spine righted. Oddly, the sensation reminded her of something too familiar – the same feeling of charging one of her spell shots. Except, this was too much. This was…

“Shit, hang on!” Alyssa shouted while propelling herself with inhuman might through the window of the wagon, wrapping her arms around the driver, and tumbling the two of them into the swaying stalks of wheat. Together they cascaded to a halt only to hear the horrible conflagration of wagon, donkey, and cargo erupt into a rain of debris.

Alyssa groaned over to her side. Thankfully, the wheat spared her from the full brutality of the rocky soil, but her body still recoiled from the shoulders, elbows, knees, and head of her caravan companion. She took a moment to right herself and brush the bits of wheat that buried themselves in her clothes or tangled hair.

“You okay?” She asked her driver.

No response.

[black shadow]

Black Shadow out his back to Logan's, their only option to take two of the assailants each. The Lizards waited for who knows what. Behind him Shadow could hear Logan slaying the two beast behind him. Maybe thy were watching to see how the other two faired against the swordsman? Or they were looking for their perfect opportunity? Black Shadow knew not which, but what he did know was that they waited.

His bow was ready for anything, a second arrow already in hand for a quicker reload. Finally the one jumped, it's sharp teeth ready for a hit. Black Shadow fired his arrow a bit to the left of the Mini-dragon, the strong winds catching it and sending the steel through the left eye of the attacker. It stumbled back in pain, the second diving aswell. Black Shadow fired his second arrow, this time missing his target. His reaction time was all the saved him. He rolled to the right, the dragons spine catching his left arm. The slice was not deep, a meet flesh wound, but man did it hurt.

Black Shadow readied another arrow, this time he had the wind. The arrow hit its target, the Dragon falling limp, dead. Then the first attacked again. He could hear the heady footsteps and the breathing of the beast behind him. He ducked, the lizard soaring over him, claws creating three scars along his back. These he would undoubtedly have for the rest of his life. His pain from the cuts was now at a high. He had pain tolerance, but that tolerance was being reached. Another arrow was all it took, straight through the right eye. The dragon, although not dead, stumbled back and layed down. It gave up, no point without the ability to see. The final arrow killed the monster.

Black Shadow turned to his partner, Logan, and nodded.

[Lloyd]

Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing that the young mystic was doing or thinking before this very moment mattered anymore. Until he and his caravan turned the corner in the road anything could have happened to Lloyd and it would do little more than annoy him. He was happily on his way home from helping his father in the issue of the Red Forest. He had not a care in the world other than him needing to pay a certain cousin’s burial a visit in Chateau Drantrak.

But everything changed in a moment.

Lloyd no longer thought of those things anymore, rather the very second his cart turned the corner and he laid eyes on the monstrous death. This massive dragon setting off the road and the sight of pure destruction ahead of him shattered whatever calm he might have had. There was no time to act; he could only grab his spade before the beast released his storm of exploding shards at them. They hit the first cart and the mystic watched as a young girl vaulted from it mere seconds before it was destroyed.

Then the beast turned to the rest of the caravan and sent its deadly projectiles flying. It was he could do to bring his hands up shielding his face. Lloyd hissed as shrapnel from the wooden carriage flew at him as his transport crumbled. He watched as the driver of the carriage was impaled by one of the green shards. He struggled until deaths final kiss then went still. Lloyd turned and made for the rear of his transport leaping very second he could. Then like the carriage before his it exploded and sent pieces flying in every direction, some landing off the road and some into the carriage behind the one he was riding in. He hit the ground and rolled; he lost grip of his spade and it too flew off the road a ways.

“Why can’t I have a normal day for once!?” he spat as he quickly leaned against a portion of his carriage. He spotted his spade speared into the ground only a few feet away from him and beyond that was the young girl. But even more interesting was the carcass lying just to his left.

Poor donkey

[Leon Adalbert]

For most of a day, the merchant prince tracked the caravan from Radasanth. He rode off the beaten path, watching and waiting for whatever fate met his father's goods. Too long and too often had deliveries been waylaid, and Leon, heir to the Adalbert fortune, was tasked to find the source of the disruption. Thus, astride a horse bought with his father's coin, he kept steady pace with the rumbling wagons. This proved more difficult than he had first imagined, as the Coronian terrain rose and fell, and threatened to trip his horse, far more than the open steppes of Alerar. The last hour had been spent navigating short cliffs and underbrush, and only as he feared the mission fruitless and the caravan lost did he see the very landscape rise up through the trees. From the opening maw of the earth emerged as ugly a reptilian visage as Leon had ever seen, though examples were fair few.

The blonde rider spurred his horse into a run, and as they closed the distance the drake breathed heavily upon the carts and their guards, coating them in a thick layer of crystal. Within a handful of strides, and to the man's horror, the shards began to explode. Screams rang out from the forest road, and Leon whipped the reins harder as he leaned into a sprint, hooves leaping over the rustling brush. Mid-leap, a crystalline piece of shrapnel shot out of the rubble, lodging itself into the horse's throat, and nearly impaling its rider as well. Man and steed tumbled into the overgrown undergrowth, and Leon quickly became trapped under the beast's crushing weight.

In his rapid approach, and clear struggle to disentangle himself from his equine barricade, the enormous creature turned its gaze briefly on the pair. Leon managed to push the horse off of himself enough to shelter behind its girth, and only by that virtue did he avoid the crystal breath that encased his still-writhing horse. Not knowing how long he had, the pistolier drew his gun, tipping a helping of black powder from a horn on his belt. He pressed the muzzle of his gilded Lily into the flesh of the dying stallion, begged forgiveness, and squeezed the trigger.

Fierce wind roared from the enchanted weapon, launching the explosive beast toward the horde of drakelings that now emerged from the dark depths beneath their sire, and propelling the pistolier tail over teakettle into the thorned bushes by the roadside.

[Hysteria]

The crack and tear of the carts being torn asunder wrapped around the din of fighting and snarls of Draklings. The sounds bounced and rode the wind, like the movements of those fleeing the carts just arrived. Men, women and undefined were thrown, or jumped to the paper thin safety of the roads as their transports were ripped apart

Some rallied quickly, following the pattern of behaver laid down by the previous carts, the same that was eventually trod. Bows flung arrows, cries of help and fear and people panicked. The dragon too followed the same movements as if obeying some written script. It moved towards the carts, ignoring the fighting below of the few weary survivors from the first troupe and heading towards the new arrivers. The giant feet thumped into the earth, a deep sound that vibrated the very soul. The creature’s breath spewed forth again and billowing clouds wrapped and rolled across the ground and across the carts. The dragon had thrown away the aggressive attacks and once again moved to encase the targets in the heavily magic infused green crystal. The attack to the leather straps seemed just a memory now, and the creature sort again to capture.

Easy post, the dragon’s moved towards the new carts and seeks to encase them in crystal. You guys can RP the Draklings as you desire, just remember they should be somewhat armoured, but dumb.

[Lloyd]

Lloyd felt the earth itself shake under the weight of the dragon now barreling towards the survivors of the caravan. He hesitated for a moment before cautiously peeking over the top of what was left of his transport. Even just the sight of this massive behemoth sent shivers down the mystic’s spine. Then the monster opened his jaw and spewed forth a gas of sorts at them. His green breath billowed forth rolling over the carts ahead of his.

The mystic had to forget about this poor donkey lying just in front of him. It would have made a good and faithful steed, but there was no time for that. Many of the survivors dove left and right off the road trying to avoid the possibly deadly cloud. Lloyd was never one for fitting in but he too dove off the road. First he dove for his spade, then once more to get the maximum distance from the green cloud as possible. After struggling to his feet he looked over his shoulder only to see the remains of his carriage and the donkey carcass crystallized as the gas rolled over it.

He sighed before turning only to see off in the distance the survivors of the previous caravan fighting for their lives against smaller versions of the giant dragon. He held firm to his spade and quickly made way across the shrapnel scattered field between them.

“Where are you?!” Lloyd yelled aloud bewildered as he stepped off a wheel of a carriage. “You were only a few carts back damn it!” he yelled again avoiding body after body. Lloyd was not alone on this trip back to the home of the mystic. He had brought back a surprise from his time in the forest. He brought back his father a construct of Pode. He brought his Un-Mother. The dreaded witch tried to play on his sorrows and force him to fight against a version of his passed mother. But he had instead converted her and made her his prized weapon. From behind he heard the familiar screech of his wonderful creation. He could feel her fallowing behind keeping a steady pace.

“Alright, now go and help the men!” he commanded his puppet and as an extension of her she obeyed completely. As the two traversed the mayhem and carnage they quickly became noticed by the smaller dragons foraging for bodies. They were nearing the others by now, Lloyd could see two men fighting just ahead, a black shadowy figure with a bow and a man clenching his leg. “Un-Mother strike these beasts down!” the moment he spoke the words his puppet leapt in the air and claw first landed on one of the dragons circling the two men. She shrieked loudly as he ripped the beast throat asunder. They seemed to both let out a sigh of relief to see some support.

“I’m a field medic how can I help?” the mystic said as he planted his spade in the ground and reached for his medical kit in his bag. The men both seemed to need some attention but the bowman pointed to the other. “Alright, what’s your name and that is the most immediate issue?” he said as he turned to the other man. He could see lacerations all over but he was sure there was something more pressing than minor cuts.

“Logan,” he grunted as he held clutching his chest.

“I’m going to need you to trust me, do you trust me?” he said as he removed from his satchel a bottle of alcohol and a scalpel. “This won’t take long but you can’t fight me.” He went on as shadowy threads sprouted from his wrist. His Un-Mother stood and came close to Lloyd as if to act like a shield for him while he worked. He didn't need long but at a time like this there little time to be squandered.

[Logan]

The psion's eyes danced about. Plenty of the dragonlings had sought out other prey, and it seemed at least for that moment there would be no concern over any of them attacking. He knew, however, the eye of the storm was at hand, and what lay beyond the stillness was far worse than what they'd already endured.

"Off with your shirt, Logan," the mystic commanded matter-of-factly. There wasn't time for pleasantries, at least not with a dragon and its dragonlings about.

Logan did as he was told and removed both his trenchcoat and the shirt he wore beneath. Chest hairs glistened with sweat, and his chest heaved as he coughed and wheezed. More blood was spat upon the ground, and the psion secretly hoped it wouldn't take long.

The mystic chided him. "Slow your breathing, and find something to bite on," Lloyd said as he set about his work. Something familiar about the would-be shadow surgeon sang at the back of Logan's mind, though. There was an air about the man, but he couldn't quite seem to put his finger on what exactly that was. Opting to leave well enough alone he grabbed the leg of a downed lizard and chomped down on it quite hard.

The scaly texture of the leg was hard to bite through, but it was exactly the distraction the mystic needed to work without too much movement from Logan. Lloyd worked as fast as he could, wiping sweat from his brow two or three times. Meanwhile, the silent shadow man kept watch at the edge of the small band for anything requiring dispatch -- such as the three draklings taking notice of the men.

"Mmsdirdth ofthuth eoouth," Logan mumbled into the dragon leg before he spat it out onto the ground. He gritted his teeth as the pain surged throughout his chest and abdomen and started to stand, but Lloyd placed a hand on his chest with such force it pushed the psion back to the ground.

"Un-mother will assist if necessary," the mystic said as he gave the wounded warrior a long hard scowl before he continued, "now, stay still!"

[black shadow]

Black Shadow kept watch, arrow in hand. The mini-dragons took the other survivors to the pit, and once they were in, they did not seem to return. Black Shadow hoped that they would be left unnoticed. His eyes danced back and forth, gazing between each Lizard. His fear of being attacked again was soon brought to life. Another lizard turned it's gaze back at the trio.

His arrow was in the air, the sweet sound of his bladesinger bow rang through the air. The scales protected this dragon, but with each arrow, the attacks began to do damage. Black Shadow fired again, the arrow sliding beneath one of the scales, the dragon in mid air. It screeched in pain, attacking again. Black Shadow ducked, and the sound if the dragon falling was music to his ears. He managed to remain unharmed this time, the "unmother", as Lloyd had called it, had taken care of the beast.

He turned back to the other two, Lloyd almost finishing his medical procedures. Logan appeared to be healed for the most part. Now they faced the task of the dragon.

[Alyssa Snow]

“Hey, did you hear me?!” Alyssa called out with a nudge to his shoulder.

The man didn’t move.

“Come on…” She inched closer to the driver and rolled him to his back. With a quick glance, the only notable marks he had were the same as hers, a few minor abrasions and embedded wheat grains.

Alyssa bit her lip as the sounds of horror escaped from the remaining survivors past the wall of golden wheat between them. The dragon’s roar quelled the screams for a brief moment only to crescendo into a percussive explosion. She looked to her unconscious companion with concern. Her brutal Aleran training in that horrible facility dictated she leave him for dead, but her desperation to be normal begged her to see him through alive. Whether it would be a mistake or not only time could tell, but Alyssa caved to her inhuman humanity.

Using her artificial gifts, the gunner conjured a small flame in the palm of her hand. She held her breath, gritted her teeth, and pressed the ember against the man’s shoulder.

First, there was no reaction but after a second or two, his soft groans erupted into a howling yelp. Alyssa quickly quelled him with a hand over his mouth.

“Shh,” she hissed, “are you okay? Anything broken?” She kept her tone soft, slow, and very stern. When the wild look in his eyes faded, Alyssa pulled her hand free from his lips.

“Aside from feeling like I was kicked by a mule, I think I’m in one piece,” he replied, rubbing his shoulder.

“Good, listen. The caravan is gone, and that thing is attacking anything that moves. For now, we’re safe in the wheat. I don’t think it’s seen us yet.”

As Alyssa spoke, she moved to the edge of the fallen stalks to part the ones which still stood. Between them, she caught a glimpse of the carnage. Smaller looking varieties of the larger beast mauled, chomped, and dragged away whatever meat they could, dead or alive. The larger one laid down a thick cloud of crystalizing fog upon the remaining wagons of her caravan. Meanwhile, survivors struggled to avoid an early demise by clinging to wreckage as makeshift shelter and fending off the smaller of the threats. Out of this chaos, Alyssa recognized a familiar face.

“Then why don’t we get the hell out of here through the fields?!” Alyssa heard harshly whispered behind her. She let the stalks sway back together and faced the driver dead on.

“You’d leave them to die?” She inquired with words as cold as Berevar’s peaks.

“Yes. By the Thayne, yes,” he returned without a second’s delay. “I have a family – children. I’m not risking my life. Let’s just crawl our way out of here!”

“Coward,” Alyssa scolded as she pulled something wrapped in cloth from around her shoulders. “You owe me your life, not to mention the pay you promised me that you know we won’t get.”

She carefully placed the object down and began to unwrap it. Each pass of linen revealed more of the sleek white and strange edges of Alyssa’s rifle.

“Now, you’re going to earn that back one way or another,” she continued, casting aside the cloth and pulling out armatures to stabilize the gun. “Either you help me save them, or I put a bolt in your leg and let karma decide if you live or die.”

He looked at her slack-jawed. It was though he didn’t expect such a young, lithe girl to be so demanding. While his size easily doubled hers, he could tell Alyssa wasn’t making a threat, but a guarantee. Her stern expression in light of the explosions, screaming, and chaos anchored him in fear or resolve.

“Now, what’s your name?” she asked.

“Ed.”

Hidden by frazzled strands of blonde, Alyssa fiddled with a strange metallic cuff on her ear. After a moment, a soft chime rang in her head.

“Ed, can you hear me?” Alyssa conveyed to him through lips shut and thought alone. The man staggered and looked around.

“What in the name of Hadia?!”

“Calm down, use your thought, not your mouth.”

”Hello?”

”Good, now listen up. I’m going to show you how to use this rifle…

A few seconds passed and Ed nestled himself behind the stock of the gun. He tilted his head behind the scope and pushed the muzzle between the wheat enough to get a visual on the lumbering giant. Then, another chime rang in Alyssa’s mind.

”Logan, this is Alyssa. Can you hear me? What’s your status?”

Shots Stocked:
Rifle [Loaded] - (1) Ice, (1) Fire, (1) Earth
Pistols [Loaded] - (12) Ice
Pistols [Reserved] - (6) Fire (6) Earth

[Leon Adalbert]

Pressed hard against the thorny bracken, and wishing he had not left behind his leather coat, Leon watched as the jewel encrusted stallion crashed into the advancing ranks of drakelings. The magicite ignited almost on impact, blasting apart several of the reptilian monsters, and the survivors scrambled away with missing limbs or shorn off snouts and tails. The pistolier's ears still rang from the gunshot, but he could barely make out the desperate keening of the creatures, and one of their number turned to him and its jaws opened wide in a screeching challenge. Shining saliva dripping from its mouth, and limbs churning away at the earth beneath it, the drakeling charged him.

Thorns and razor-sharp leaves tore at his back through the linen shirt, and with a cry of pain Leon rose and stuffed his pistol in a pocket. Drawing his sword and dagger, the man slouched into a defensive stance, arms wide and blades pointed ahead. Boots dug into soft earth, he crouched slightly, ready to meet the onrushing foe. The beast rose up on its short hind legs, raking at its easy prey with long talons. Leon dove into the strike, driving his shoulder hard into its chest and wrapping his off-hand around to drive the knife into its carapaced flank. The beast tumbled, overbalancing with the new weight, and Leon kicked off against the ground once more.

The pair rolled, and as he landed atop the writhing creature, Leon drew back his rapier. He took quick, careful aim, and drove the point of his blade into its throat, breaking the leathery hide. It screamed beneath him, and its arms and legs thrashed about, catching on the man's pants and bloodied back. With a shout of agony and defiance, Leon grit his teeth and bore down on the weapon, pushing it through and up into the base of the beast's skull. Unsheathing his dagger from its side, the bloodied swordsman thrust the shortblade into the now-immobilized creature's eye, and twisted.

The drakeling twitched once, twice, then nothing.

[Hysteria]

Don’t dawdle too much! I’ve been slowly increasing the danger, and it’ll keep going.

The drakelings continued their grisly work, but the cries of those cut down seemed to spurn urgency in their actions. Above them the dragon continued to coat the new arrivals in layers of crystal. Even those seeking shelter amid the wreckage found the mass of crystal flow over them and turned into rolling mounds. Mercenaries and cart drives and crew all found themselves flooded by the gas and trapped.

From the hole continued to pour more drakelings, but amid their number came slightly larger versions. These creatures seemed more armoured, and more muscular. If the drakelings were the drones, then these were the warriors. They moved with great speed, leaping forward in bounds towards Logan, Lloyd and Shadow. The creature’s mouths opened, revealing rows of teeth, but more pressing was a surge of magic. Large crystal spikes easily a foot long blasted from their mouths towards the three men. Two drones and a warrior cornered the strange Un-mother and moved to rip her to shreds.

Two warriors followed the scream of the drone eventually silenced by Leon.

[Lloyd]

Beads of sweat fell from the young Orlouge’s brow as he tried to quickly finish his operation. With the help of his shadow magic he easily repaired Logan’s punctured lung with only a few stitches. He had not the time to fully repair the man to perfect health but this would at least help Logan up and onto his feet leaving him able to fight once more.

“Hold still Logan,” he hissed as he started to suture close the Logan’s skin. “I only need a few more seconds.” His shadowy tendrils started to retract back into his wrist as he finished his impromptu surgery. His Un-mother stood stoic behind him, guarding him with all of her being. Between the bowman and his thrall, Lloyd had excellent cover for what he needed to do.

Just before he could pull his needle through the worrier’s skin for the final time the Un-mother growled. While Lloyd was occupied with his stitching the Un-mother saw more and more enemies emerging from their tunnel. She howled as the larger dragonlings started to leap and target their little group. Normally in these cases Lloyd would control his puppet like a well-oiled machine but he was focused on finish Logan. Instead he allowed the Un-mother to fight on its own until he completed his operation.

With her long sharp claws flexed the Un-mother ran forth to meet these beast mid charge. If nothing else she would give them a chance to counter strike. She made large stride cross field until the dragonlings surrounded her. She hissed and scratched at the air around her like a rabid animal, yet this did not scare the larger dragon. It charged her like it had no fear and she it. Both leap in the air with their claws our front.

The un-mother felt the beast sharp talon pierce her shoulder as the monster overpowered her in mid-air. She managed to sink her claws deep in its chest but otherwise was pinned under its massive form. The other dragonlings circled her as the drone let out a raptor like roar in victory. The Un-mother struggled to break free from under the beast weight but to no avail. Instead she twisted her claws planted in its chest ripping and tearing at its innards.

“Alright, were done.” Lloyd said as he lent Logan his shoulder to stand. “It’s not perfect but it’ll have to do for now.” He finished as Logan rose to his feet. “Just don’t push yourself too hard and this should hold up. It would be a shame if I just had to work all over again.” He turned to see his Un-mother pinned under the weight of the drone a few yards away. “You wouldn’t want to look like her would ya?” he said pointing to his masterpiece. “You have my word as Lloyd Ransom Orlouge, son of Ciato, we will make it through this.”

They had to…

[Logan]

The psion stiffened at the name Ciato. The Orlouge name, in particular, was one quite familiar to him. After all, Anita, daughter of Silence Sei, was Logan's Goddaughter. Neither of which he had seen in a very, very long time. The name Ciato when played through his mind held a putrid taste akin to rotten fish and spoiled vegetables. To say the psion wasn't fond of Ciato would be, in the broadest sense, an understatement.

Logan elected to ignore any emotions or feelings welling up inside him, and instead opted to quickly examine over the impromptu surgery's results. A deep breath followed by a minor hack as the shadow threads stretched taught about his chest, and a fresh feeling of certainty washed over him. The work was as much a success as one could be in the heightened midst of battle. Maybe, just maybe, he could let Lloyd's heritage slip by without drawing attention to the jackass who was his father.

The psion nodded to Lloyd. "Yeah, I don't feel in the mood to be a meal for any of these creatures," he said through a smirk. "Oh, and nice work, kid."

Drakelings and dragonlings; if someone told Logan prior to his adventure with Max Dirks in the Red Forest he'd be face to face with a dragon, shortly after killing a Kargoosh and defeating Pode's illusions, he would have certainly laughed in their face. Then again, the whole ordeal was pretty much par for the course for him. Any adventure the psion joined always seemed to enter into some overly twisted witch's fantasy. The question that ran through his mind was just who was the witch?

The psion's thoughts bounced as the dragonlings and drakelings pounced onto the Un-Mother. There wasn't much time to save it, and to be quite honest, he had not intentions of saving it.

"Lloyd, you and your whatever keep those little bastards busy. I have a --," the final words held on the tip of his tongue as the voice of Alyssa Snow rippled through his mind.

She'd shown off the new earpiece not long ago, but he never really bought into the concept. A way to communicate across any distance and perhaps even farther felt dirty and wrong, like cheating at a game of King's Cups. Upon hearing her voice, Logan's objections felt rather trivial.

"Alyssa, I'm fine. I have a couple of friends here keeping these little bastards at bay, but I need to get onto that big one somehow. Can you help me," Logan telepathically replied.

As he focused to explain, the first wave of the crystal spikes soared at the group. It seemed one of the larger dragonlings took a liking to the psion, which of course made total sense. At least it did to him.

Logan's swords slid from their sheaths in a matter of breaths, and easily parried away the spikes. A long time before, he might have returned the favor by launching the spikes in their entirety back at the individual drakes, but his time of telekinetics had long since passed. So he relied on the next best thing.

As the dragonling hissed at the psion, Logan sheathed his swords and balled his fists. The dirt beneath the feet of each dragonling shuddered as small geysers of water sprang forth. His fists balled tighter and the geysers erupted harder and harder, more and more water raining about the area. One geyser, then another and yet another merged into a jetstream of water. The jetstream was powerful enough to knock back each of the dragonlings in succession.

"A little help here," he shouted at the silent shadow man and the surgeon.

[black shadow]

Blak Shadow turned this way and that, the dragonlings were everywhere. He reached back to grab another arrow only to find this quiver nearly empty. dang! he thought, putting his bow to his back and grabbing his sword. He stepped forward, sword in hand, ready to help Logan.

One dragon attacked again. Black Shadow jumped to his left, barely missing its charge. what are you doing? You're fats, use it. he stood again. As the dragon charged again, Black Shadow used a burst of speed to the left, stabbing the dragon in the leg. It fell in pain but quickly stood. It charged again, and Black Shadow dodged again to his left. The Dragon charged one last time, obviously it was a relatively dumb creature. As I charged it's third time, it jumped. Black Shadow dropped, his back was on the soft dirt almost instantly. In doing this, the dragon had shown its weak point.

Black Shadow thrust his sword up, stabbing through the exposed stomach. Blood spilled into Shadow as a huge slash appeared. The dragon lay dead. Black Shadow looked at the larger dragon. if this collar thing doesn't work...

[Alyssa Snow]

Logan's voice trickled into her mind, and Alyssa sighed in relief.

"Glad to hear you're alright," she relayed back. Keeping low to the golden stalks, Alyssa crept her way to flank the larger beast. The sounds of battle raged on, screams became less, and enemy battle cries grew louder.

"I'm going to flank to the east. I have assistance camped out in the wheat, but I'm going to divert their attention off that mark. Once I emerge, I'll lay down some suppression to clear some ground..."

Alyssa crested to the edge of the wheat field. Through the few remaining strands, she witnessed the larger of the beasts fire volleys of crystal pikes into and through one of the caravan guards. His only defense was two raised arms which quickly changed to grasp the projectile in his stomach. His cries of pain drowned out into the wet splatter he then became when the pike ruptured violently. Alyssa curled her lips at the gruesome display, and her humanity crept through the cold tactics of her training. The longer this dragged on, the more families would be denied fathers or children. Alyssa's resolve steeled.

"Logan, are you ready? Once you see me reload, firm your stance as if you were about to jump. I'm going to launch you into the air, the rest is up to you..."

Here we go.

Alyssa coiled her legs and burst forth from the golden fields at full sprint. Drakelings, drakes, and dragon alike caught her sudden movement in their serpentine gaze. As heads turned her way to unleash whatever horrors they could upon her, the mage gunner leveled twin M-Tech Revolvers parallel to the earth. They opened fire, and so did she. Where prongs of crystal left gaping maws, Alyssa drilled an iron-strong bolt of ice in its place. Precision marksmanship mixed with her serpentine strafe, and lizards writhed their gurgling death throes. One, two, three dragon spawn fell with throats impaled. One, two, three ducks, jumps, and twists prevented Alyssa from a volatile demise. As the fatal numbers grew among the monsters, the young blonde enclosed the gap to the survivor's barricade.

The mother of the beasts cocked its scaled head, exposing leather straps to where Logan lay in wait. Alyssa pushed her body to its limits as she charged directly toward the gargantuan. It opened its maw and several others released a volley of green as though protecting the larger one. The blonde gunner locked her legs and began to skid in the dusty soil. Bolts of ice screamed from the muzzle of her revolvers, some hitting home in the soft flesh of the lizard's mouths, others glancing off hardened scales of their snouts.

"Get ready!" Alyssa shouted while the dragon's chest ceased expanding.

Her legs locked, coiled, and the dragon unleashed its payload upon the girl. Alyssa launched herself into the air above the mist, avoiding a crystal demise. At the twelve foot apex of her leap, she snatched a spare cylinder from the pouch at her hip and slammed it to replace the spent one of her alternate hand. Her glance shot to Logan. The drakelings on the ground arched their jaws skyward and fired. Alyssa pointed the muzzle at Logan's feet and pulled the trigger.

One of the lizard's crystals found the meat of her side and tore an opening in the girl as it passed by. Alyssa reeled in the pain, but pulled her body into an acrobatic tumble. In the few seconds she had of flight, the gunner managed to charge one of her spent spell crystals with the element of wind. In the spiral of her decent, while suffering grazes from their attacks, Alyssa jut her pistol out and fired a blast of wind. Her frame was redirected from the force of recoil, sparing her from the worst of the cloud of gas below and skyward volley of crystal death.

She landed with the grace of a cat and snapped her attention to the column of earth which jutted violently upward beneath her companion's feet.

"Get ready to take the shot," Alyssa relayed to her hidden accomplice.

Shots Stocked:
Rifle [Loaded]: (1) Ice, (1) Fire, (1) Earth
Pistols [Loaded]: (5) Earth, (7) Empty
Pistols [Reserved]: (6) Fire, (6) Empty

Charges Ready by Next Post:
Pistols [Reserve]: (2)Empty --> (2) Ice

[Logan]

Alyssa certainly wasted no time when it came to offering an opportunity for the psion. Of course, launching onto the dragon was the easy part. Managing to stay on the dragon, and somehow scaling the back of the dragon up to the leather straps was without a doubt the harder part of the plan. Then again, if he could at least get onto the dragon he would be able to inflict some damage.

At his commander's words, his bent his legs slightly and prepared to jump. There was no point in arguing with Alyssa as far as the psion was concerned. She had a tendency to run guns blazing into a fight, and sure enough she did. Smaller drakelings, dragonlings and dragons fell to each side of her as she performed her move, and Logan had a momentary lapse of concentration while he was impressed with her form.

Then she snapped him out of it with an audible shout, and he leaped into the air. A small explosion erupted where his feet were only moments before, propelling him higher into the air. As he reached the apex of the leap he clenched his fists and the jet streams of water converged beneath him and forced him toward the back of the dragon.

Come on, a few more feet, he thought to himself as the streams pushed him just a bit farther before he began to fall. He pushed himself forward, straining with every muscle. Short swords flashed in the pale light as he dove toward the largest of the lizards.

"OOMPH," Logan let slip as he landed hard onto the scaly back side of the dragon. Coughs of blood erupted from his mouth as the shadow sutures seemed to rip somewhat. He wasn't entirely out of the woods when it came to his injuries, but perhaps he was good enough to complete this mission. With a shallow breath he gathered his will. As the dragon leaned down to breathe more of the odd crystalline substance at another wagon off in the distance, Logan took his chance.

The psion ran along the spine of the dragon, his feet slipping only once or twice and only slightly. Upon reaching the neck, he dove forward and sliced his swords at both straps. Each sword spaced just enough to allow for both to eat into the leather, should the maneuver work. But would it?

[Leon Adalbert]

Leon rolled off of the reptilian corpse, readying himself for the continuing battle. His blades bloodied, he wiped them in the grass quickly before sheathing them once more. Looking to the abyss ahead, larger and more feral-looking monsters began to emerge. He loaded his gun quickly, pouring powder and pressing the bullet down with the ramrod. He knew full well how badly that brawl could have gone, and wanted to avoid another if possible. A pair of the beasts, focused in on him, no doubt drawn by the screams of their brother. Slower, but more powerful, they lurched toward the pistolier as he lined up his shot. Not until you see its pupils, he reminded himself, knowing too well the limits of unrifled flintlock. He took slow, steady steps toward them, and when in range, he squeezed the trigger.

Ka-TOOM

The hand cannon erupted in a white-hot blossom, and its charge blasted into the scaled warrior. The lead ball took his target full in the chest, shearing a hole deep into its ribcage. Dead or disabled, it fell, tail over teakettle.

Throwing the gun back into his pocket, Leon drew his blades once more and charged, screaming and bloody, at the other. High overhead, he saw a flash of white-blonde hair as a woman vaulted at the dragon ahead, but paid little notice. This, now, was survival, and the merchant prince had no illusions about that fact. Ducking into a low slide, he fell under the beast's mighty swing, lashed out against its foot with his dagger, and, feeling the blade bite bone, pulled. The creature fell, overbalanced like its smaller kin, and the blonde man scrambled to climb atop the warrior. From there, without flourish, he slit the beast's throat and rode it aground.

Apologies for my late post. I've been sick the past couple of days and couldn't even make it on-site until this evening. I fully expected to be written out, and appreciate the consideration.

[Hysteria]

Logan’s swords sliced through the leather straps and they fell to dangle from the dragon’s neck. The giant creature turned, still reacting to the Psion’s movement, but too late to stop it. The dragon’s maw opened wide and came down on the Psion as his wounds momentarily stopped him from reacting. There was only darkness waiting.

The dark Orlouge only just finished his words as the crystal shard smashed into his right shoulder. The crystal broke bone, flesh and muscle and lodged firmly into place. The attack wouldn’t kill, at least not directly. The strange Un-mother didn’t fare much better, as the dragonling clawed through her flesh as she did the same to it. Both collapsed in a mess of blood and gore.

Shadow didn’t have long to enjoy his victory over the dragonling. His body started to sizzle and fry as the acid within the dragonling started to burn through flesh and cloths alike. It hadn’t been blood that the archer had pieced, but the raw magic component they used to make the crystals.

Leon was strangely lucky as the creatures around him pulled back towards their larger counterpart.

The leather straps trailed below the dragon’s jaw as it caught the Psion. The mysterious larger leather thing slipped off the dragon and fell to the ground. It was a large pouch of sorts, and landed with a thud on the ground. A moment before it struck there was a barely discernible flash of darkness. As if he had always been there, a man stood on the road surrounded by the drake and dragonlings. His face was ashen grey, mottled with dark magic. His cloths were dirty and tattered, bearing markings of once being fine articles. In his right hand was a large eye he gripped from a cut optic nerve. In his left a black staff topped with a large black magicite crystal. He seemed somewhat surprised at his current location, and the sudden reveal of his hiding place.

He lifted his staff up and pointed it towards the sky and in an instant the day turned to night. From the darkness above rain started to fall, thick sludge like drops. The mage moved forward like a flash towards Alyssa. His staff hummed with magic as expanding burts of shadow magic pushed back everything around him. A large blade of energy pushed out from the tip of the mage’s staff, turning it into something akin to a long bladed spear. Long enough to reach outside the small bursts of energy protecting him. The drakelings crowding the road started to retreat into the hole, white the few dragonlings remained.

Ok, so this guy was controlling the dragon! Its free now, but it and the dragonlings (five of them) will continue their attack. The mage is gunning (hehe) for Alyssa.

I rolled some dice in chat. Logan is dead (but you can write your death as you see fit, I didn’t RP another movement from the dragon so it can react fittingly.

Lloyd takes a crystal to the shoulder, shadow is covered with acid and leon survived…

Post questions if you ‘ave em!

[black shadow]

Black Shadow rolled to his stomach, the remaining acid staying to the grass. Pain surged through his body, but he had no time to waste. He forced himself to stand, the burns almost unbearable. Why was he here? If he died... Espoir... He couldn't leave her without a father.

He remembered the slaying of that last dragonling. The stomachs were defenseless. Another arrow was ready to fire within seconds. He steadied his breathing, focusing in one of the dragonlings following the controlling mage. He saw one rear up at the swing of a brave warrior's sword. Shadow was about to let his arrow fly when the ground began to shake. The arrow veered off course, missing the mini-dragon by a mile.

All attention shot to the larger dragon. It's eyes, once completely black, now slowly became white with green. It had a look of confusion on its face, an it stumbled back a few steps. The spell appeared to be broken. The wizard paused, turned back to the dragon, and pushed his staff towards the dragon once more. The eyes turned back to it's pitch black.

if we can remove the collar completely... Black Shadow thought to himself. He readied another arrow, searching for his mark. There was only one spot that needed to be struck. If his aim was true, the last ring would snap, and the collar would be completely off. And I it was completely off, maybe, just maybe. The wizard would lose all power. And maybe, just maybe, they would have to worry no longer about the dragon.

He reached into his quiver as found the piece of leather he had in it. He ripped the least her pouch from the quiver, and held it in front of him. This was his newest possession, a gift from his friend, Gavner. A piece of string held the pouch closed, and a simple pull released it. Black Shadow unwrapped the leather, and inside was the Adamantine Demon Lord's Arrow. He eyed it for a second, noticing it's beauty once more. He then notched it and took a few deep breaths. This was his shot... It had to hit. He judged the wind, it forced him to aim in front of the dragon. Another deep breath in...

*Flunk*

An the arrow was on its way.


OOC

If I need to I can link to where I obtained the Bladesinger Bow and the Demon Lord's Arrow from Gavner. I'll be adding them in next profile update.

[Logan]

The moment he hatched the plan, Logan knew it was pure suicide. It would have taken a stroke of luck to survive, but the psion never counted on luck. As the blades found their target and the straps were loosed from the neck of the lizard, a smirk flashed across the psion's face. He was ready for the death knell.

It came quick, but his heightened reactions gave him one last moment to offer a blow of his own. Sure, he wouldn't come back from the attack, but he sure as hell would do everything in his power to make his last breaths count for something. As the dragon's mouth loomed over him, Logan thrust both of his blades upward into the upper section of the lizard's maw. He wouldn't have time to learn if his attack was effective.

The maw came down lightning quick, teeth tearing into flesh and ripping through muscle. Bones snapped, and pain gripped the psion. The shadow sutures dissipated as they were pulled to their limits. The insides of the psion crunched and burst. His eyes filled red as the pressure on his waist increased. He took his final breath, labored and wheezing, as the lower half of his body dislodged from the upper half. While nobody could see it, the smirk never faded. It never waned.

Logan had lifted the veil, and had given the ultimate sacrifice in doing so. Alyssa, and Lloyd and the rest of the gathered mercenaries had their chance to take out the real puppet master. The chess pieces were shown for who they really were, and the last fading thought of the psion was only that giving his life would mean something; that they would help his sacrifice mean something.

"Beat him. For me," echoed through the minds of anyone nearby. It was his dying act, his final bow. The fight was over, but the battle had just begun.

[Hysteria]

The dark rain continued to pour down the battle field. Blood and the thick black liquid swirled around each other as both refused to mix. The archer fired his shot, the strength of the bow and luck was on his side as the collar fell to the ground the creature moved. The arrow pierced the creature’s large black eye in a spray of liquid. The creature’s pain hadn’t yet started as it bit down and blades pierced the inside of its mouth and burst through the top of its face.

The dragon stumbled backwards into the forest and smashed through trees as it regained its footing. The mage was closing in on Alyssa and took advantage of the sudden commotion to slash his energy blade across the woman’s neck. The blonde’s eyes showed surprise as her head was separated from her shoulders.

Close to the archer the dark Orlouge watched as the creature stumbled. His focus was misplaced as a dragonling fell upon him and latched around his neck. Lloyd’s last moments were of fury and green.

The dragon lifted its mouth in the direction of the road and attempted to breathe out his crystalline shards. The swords lodged in the roof of its mouth caught the force of the attack and ripped outwards, taking a large chunk of its mouth with it. The breath attack failed to harden; instead it sent a gout of green flames that incinerated everything in its path. Dragonlings were caught, as was the nearly dead Lloyd and an unlucky Leon.

The mage turned his dark eyes to the creature and sneered. It was no good to him anymore. With a flash he disappeared. Above the darkness went with him, only the thick black oil remained on the ground. The dragon pushed itself back up to its feet and turned its remaining eye towards Shadow. Thick blood dropped from its jaw, as a row of ivory teeth were visible through the missing mouth. Where the collar has been the scales were worn and thin, although the missing portion of jaw and blind right eye were perhaps just as important.

Logan, Alyssa, Lloyd and Leon are out!
Tankita Bananas, BlueGhostofSeaside, Bunneh and Dedalous are up!

[Bunneh]

I woke with much annoyance. So much darned noise. Roars and cries and groans of agony ... My nose twitching I stood up, ready to moan profusely to those who had awoken me. Afternoon naps are very useful, and being of the herbivore kind I never injested much protein. Therefore - I did not get full and so often just ate until I had to sleep. And someone had given me that ambrosia of all insatiable vegetables - a carrot.

I had curled up under a bench, inside a cupboard, in the forward part of the caravan. As I sat up the first thing I did was open the cupboard door. Poking my head out I blinked as I noticed, strangely, that everything was not how it should have been. Indeed, the entire roof had come off from the wagon. Terribly awfully strange and very not how I had left it.

Poking my head straight up, and grabbing my rapier I prepared to scan the entire scene. The noises I had heard slotted into place in terms of what had happened, and why the roof was off from the wagon. Cocking my head to the side, I scanned the sudden chaos scene before me, looking as if all the worlds' hells had suddenly spilled open. Most certainly the caravan was not how I had left it. Left it for a well-earned quiet nap before it was my duty to take over watch.

What? A rabbit take watch?! Pah, what a joke!

This was the usual nonsense I was used to hearing.

Amongst the debris and bodies and horror various monsters were clambering from dark earthly depths. There was a mighty dragon, rearing with scales of bronze, drakes and draklings, all earthly based, and likely some evil menical warlord behind it. My mouth fell open slightly, disbelieving what I saw around me, and also the fact I had apparently slept through all of this. All this blood and ruin and death and ...

A rabbit has no part in wars.

I am not a blooming rabbit, I roared to myself, inside my head, and I flopped down from the wagon to the ground. Firmly securing the thin steel rapier onto my back I hunkered right down, smaller than all the others in this field of bodies and terror. I am a fucking earth-spirit, you bitches. Don't underestimate my seven thousand years of life.

And I began to creep, as quiet as a shadow, as soundless as death, behind the plants and bodies. Determined that much was I to prove worth and find out just what those drakelings looked like up close.

[Tankita Bananas]

Guards stood at the ready, prepared to defend their precious cargo to the death. The casualties began to rack up as the fiendish wizard disappeared and left his nefarious thunder lizards to the various destruction they wrought. What remained of Jack's forces stood with theor weapons ready as they prepared for whatever assault would besiege them next. One soldier in particular, a young know-nothing simply called 'Rancher', turned his eyes to the west just ever so slightly. This minor motion caused the warrior to drop his sword at the sight that laid before him.

"Is....is that a tank?"

A large green mechanical beast of a tank stood in the fields despite the fact it had not been there mere moments ago. The other soldiers were busy attempting to ward off another attack from the monstrous beast before them to pay Rancher any mind. No explanation could be offered for the sudden appearance of the vehicle, but the young, rugged-looking warrior knew a blessing in disguise when he saw one. He broke the line and flew out in a sprint towards the steel sentinel. Sweat poured down his hair and out of his helmet as he carefully avoided all sorts of mangled bodies and crystal fragments that now lined the newly formed battlefield. He hopped atop the weapon and quickly fumbled with the latch to open the war toy.

Once the top of the contraption creaked open with a unique roar of it's own, Rancher dived in and removed his helmet, revealing shoulder length brunette hair drenched with sweat. His green eyes gazed upon all the different buttons, levers, and lights that were laid out before him. He reached out for a minute before pausing. "Wait a minute," his soft, feminine voice whispered, "if I do this wrong, I have killed my comrades. But, if I do this right...."

"Trust your instincts..." a voice seemed to find itself into the head of the young human, "you are your greatest weapon, because you now have a tank."

Rancher did not even question the voice or to whom it belonged to. With the confidence infused by his latest acquisition, he slammed his index finger down upon a green button labeled 'NC' while his left hand reached for a red lever labeled 'Forward' and pulled downwards.

The beast roared to life as it began to sally forth towards the dragon, which was distracted by the other meat shields to pay any mind to the strange device creeping towards it. A whirring sound began to emanate from the metal monster and with a thunderous boom, it launched a round straight towards one of the weakened scales at the neck of the dragon. The 'round' was actually a small mace that moreso resembled a star than anything else. Anybody with enough focus would realize that the new projectile was indeed the weapon known as Nova Cane; an object so great that when a woman gave her man pain, he could silence his brain with one swift hit. Now, the melee-turned-rocket careened towards the bestial dragon with an intent to kill.

Meanwhile, neither tank nor driver noticed the rabbit about to be ran over by its massive treads...

[Dedalous]

Artheridge had been camping along the side of a well worn trade road, trying to rest her sore rump from days of riding, when the first of the roars had sounded. She’d watched a caravan roll by not half an hour prior, and had been contemplating breaking camp and riding to catch up, possibly to ask joint passage, possibly to land a job and keep her fed for a few more days as she got closer to her next destination. Now, however, she dropped everything she was doing, grabbed Vrontìr and her sword belt, and turned to Belfont’s saddle, contemplating it for a moment before deciding speed was of the essence.

People are probably dying, she thought, reaching up to her neck to undo the brooch holding her cloak around her shoulders, then touching a small, silver warhammer hanging in her cleavage. Hope your lessons are enough to help these people, came the unbidden prayer into her mind, a silent nod to her mentor, Arlessen. With that, she spread her russet wings, and with a running leap, and a powerful downstroke, was airborne, calling back to her constant companion and mount.

“Sorry, Belfont. You get to avoid death and mayhem today.”

As she winged her way down the road, flying as high as she could, the source of the commotion quickly came into view. An absolutely massive terrestrial dragon stood in a copse of of trees, breathing emerald flames over the dozens of people arrayed against it. What was worse, though, was that a large portion of the people appeared to be ignoring the dragon completely, and were more interested in fighting the apparent dragonslayers.

Well, we can’t have a dragon running amok, she thought as her mind switched gears to the more tactical side of things, the side she’d only ever used in practice with her dwarven mentor. If she was to survive this fight, she’d need every ounce of training she had.

Winging over the battlefield, she tried to get a lay of the land, and an idea of the disposition of the fighters. The first thing she noticed about the field was that the group she thought were people fighting the ‘dragonslayers,’ as she’d begun calling the beleaguered SNAFU of a group, were not people at all, but tiny versions of the big beastie lording over the field. The next thing she noticed was a dark green, metal… Box, rolling along the ground, charging headlong at the big mamma, before shaking the battlefield with a tunderous roar and sending a projectile of some sort at the dragon. The final thing she noted was a man standing bravely with a freshly loosed bow.

I should join him. Find out what the plan is, she thought, before looking for a relatively sparsely populated area to touch down. Finding a relatively clear area within an easy run of the bowman, the malamute dipped her wings, inadvertently bringing herself in range of the dragonlings shard attacks. A fact she learned in a rather painful manner as, thirty feet up, her wings were perforated in several places, and she rapidly dropped to the ground.

[Bunneh]

A singular blotch of black on my less than pristine fur, my nose twitched as soon as I picked up the scent of the rust and strange oils. The sound of a thunderdrum echoed in my ear - the terrifying call to war of a steadily worsening fate. Creaks and rolls of a bizarre mechanism, like the kind I had seen up in Alerar with its earthless creations, came to my attention as soon as I heard them, and the smell, by Drys the stench.

My eyes almost encompassing a three hundred and sixty degree vision I saw the beast as it came. Large and oblong it was close to a box that moved of its own accord, a cart with what seemed like hundred wheels all joined by some metal linkage. With fury at the profanity of such a cruel horrid sight I leapt out of the way, all use of my silent walk and stealth towards the drakelings gone. Using my dew claws that were formed into something approaching thumbs I pushed a flesh sack aside before burrowing down and away, just in time for the vehicle - for that it what it had to be, some sort of demonic vehicle - to pass by, crushing the skulls of the corpses I had just breathed on into dust.

With eyes of horror I stared at it as it trundled by. My lively heart beating in my chest I held back all the curse-words that I want to blabber out, and denied myself even thought. Knowing it was too late, also, I ripped the rapier from my back, holding it as unsteadily as a midget might hold a full-sized great sword, and paused, before turning to the nearest drakeling.

By Drys, they had seen me already. If the vehicle and my reaction to it had not brought their attention to me, my stark white body against the mud and blood did. With my pink eyes staring at their brown ones, I felt caught in a stalemate, or at least near death.

Fiercely, the drakeling in front of me hissed. And so, I hissed back in a very rabbit-like way. As it reared back its head I thumped my back leg and skipped back a step, ready to be lithe and move when his head would come down for a snap.

Then I would shove my rapier into his sorry little face and damn, he would have an ache.

[black shadow]

Black Shadow had one thought come into his mind as the dragon looked into his eyes: Return.

The arrow that had caused the dragon to lose his eye ripped loose, damaging what was already done even further. It flew quickly back towards Shadow before floating just infront of him. The dragon roared in pain as the arrow had caused more pain than the beast already felt. The look of confusion turned to a look of anger, and Black Sjadow realized this was not a good thing.

The lungs of the dragon expanded, taking in air for its next attack probably, which caused the entire chest to expand. Black Shadow grabbed the arrow and placed it back into his quiver, ready for his certain death. His eyes closed an he though one thing, I'm sorry, Espoir. a tear fell from his eye as he was ready to die. In battle was how he always wanted to die, and there's no better time than against a dragon.

[Hysteria]

The mace hurled by the most unlikely of things struck the dragon’s neck with a dull thud. The warn scales under the creature’s neck cracked and both they and mace fell to the ground. The dragon’s neck didn’t move against the force of the mace, it would take a lot more than that to effect the head’s huge weight. The dragon’s flames seared out of its mouth and caught and dissolved the archer. It was luck, or perhaps the lack of peripheral vision that the flames missed he fallen Furkin.

The dragon’s head flicked to the side, sending the torrent of fire over a few survivors that had managed to escape the dragon’s onslaught and the last remaining dragonlings. These were not so much of a concern however, it’s eyes focused on the tank travelling through the field. The green against the golden wheat, the large trail left in its wake, the tank was not made for stealth.

The dragon’s feet stomped into the thick oil-soaked road to stop at the edge of the field. The creature’s head dropped low as it inhaled a huge breath of air. The dragon’s chest swelled and its torn face focused as best it could towards the tank. The creature exhaled, sending a long stream of fire through the wheat. The crop, the edge of which was coated in the oil, dissolved amid the green flames as the torrent aimed towards the tank.

The creature’s neck was close to the ground, and the point where the tank’s attack had struck was under the creature’s blind eye. A smart observer might have noticed that the flames of the dragon’s attack were not fire, but some raw magical energy. It was that reason the oil had not ignited.

There shouldn’t be any NPCs anymore, all killed off.

The dragonlings and drakelings should likewise be dead or retreated.

Black shadow has been burnt to a crisp.

Flames are aimed at Tankita, possibly getting Bunneh too. The field isn’t on fire.

[Bunneh]

For all the good things that have been done ...

Madly, fearfully, I ran straight for the underside of the drakeling as the fire spewed out. I did not have time to see it direct, but rather, caught it in the distance in the blindspot of my eye. As that vehicle roared, spitting out whatever reaction it deemed necessary, I reacted to my instincts. With the drakeling's tough maw descending and the flames from the great dragon seething, I escaped only just with my life.

Hindfoot pounding on the ground I sent my body into a great surge of activity, expending energy I had collected in my sleep. The drakeling descended, but not in the way I had entirely planned. His legs beneath him collapsed, two by two, first the rear, then the front. I had to exert energy (damn energy) to skip fast to the right to get out of the way of his falling body as my rapier scratched against his rough scales. I was mistaken in thinking the drakeling's maw was descending towards me, whereas in fact his entire being had been descending, falling because of some premature death. Confusion hit me but the body at least was enough of a wall to protect me from most of the flames as they roared into life towards the vehicle, and I caught in the crossfire.

However, fireproof scales make for an excellent life-saver. Especially for a earth spirit.

Eagerly I rolled on the grasses, both rolling to move and rolling to douse the flames. The soft muddy ground would hopefully force the burning to stop - muddy me but also save me. Stop the flames from eating my whole body, especially as I was basically a blaze waiting to happen - that was the most logical step for a plan of next action.


Safe, for at least a pivotal moment, I leaned back, ignoring the final crash of the drakelings head back down to earth, and twisted around to nurse my burnt backside. It was bad. A mad rip of fur and flesh had been devoured by the edges of the flame, and obviously the falling, dying drakeling had snagged on my side at one point. A gaping wound on my flank told of an epic tail, going with the sooty mess that was my butt.

It went out, and I was left with a injured arse and a burnt tail.

[Dedalous]

Pushing herself up to her elbows with a groan of mixed pain and effort, Artheridge glanced around, letting loose a loud curse as she spotted the emerald flames flying at her. Ducking behind a low rise in the flat terrain, the malamute let out another curse as the firestorm raged above her for a few more moments, singeing the feathers on the back of her already injured wings, and stripping her tail of a significant portion of her tail fluff.

“Goddamn motherfucking…” the wounded malamute trailed off, gritting her teeth to deal with the pain, then reaching down to her side to make sure Vrontìr was still intact. Against all odds, it was.

Really glad I listened to that crusty old dwarf, heat hardening the stock like that, she thought. Otherwise I’d be screwed. And with that thought, as well as the knowledge she was still in the fight, she unslung her crossbow, inching her way over the berm that had sheltered her from the brunt of the flames to try and get an idea of what was going on. Her protection was slim, and would stand no chance at all against the concentrated attentions of the dragon, so first order of business was to find a more defensible position. Then, evaluate allied positions, and enemy weaknesses, and how best to exploit them. She wasn’t in communication with any of the combatants, so that last would be incredibly difficult, but this thing had to come down.

There! A ditch was visible along the side of the road, near the crystallized frames of several wagons, what must be the remainder of the caravan that had passed her camp earlier. It was probably filled with muck and mud, would be terribly unpleasant for anyone forced to endure it, but it was the only cover she could see, and would have to do.

“Nothing to it but to do it,” she muttered, heaving herself up to her feet, and bolted for the ditch, praying that the dragon would not notice her.

[Tankita Bananas]

The flames seemed to be anything but. Rancher noticed the fields, soaked in oil, were not lit up with the same emerald death that the dragon spewed. The deadliness of the beast's breath however was still just as potent. He could feel an intense heat from within the confines of his iron plated vehicle. He felt as though he were a pig roasted slowly over a fire as sweat began to pour down more furiously from his helmet. He took the head armor off as a means to try and cool off, if just a little, as he pressed the tank onwards towards his target.

Outwards, the war machine was not faring any better; The iron plating of Tankita Bananas began to corrode and rust away, similar to if a human suffered chemical burns upon their flesh. She tried to stifle her scream of agony but instead let out a high frequency mental shrill to those around her. The half-assed telepathic scream caused Rancher to wince and cover his ears, and he wondered just how much the other players in this game fared against the head traumatizing sound.

"Come on," He whispered as the tank soldiered through the fires, "just a little more, I want to see the emptiness of that thing's lost eye...."

The tank seemed to press forward with more of a fervor at the behest of it's 'master'. It's cannon shifted higher and higher upward as it tried to meet it's winged foe on the battlefield. The soldier looked through a strange device labeled 'Periscope' to see where his sentinel of salvation was aimed before he hit the button to fire once more. Without a second of hesitation, a magical ball of pure energy was fired from the gun of the weapon, aimed upwards and directly towards the open hole of the dragon that sought to destroy it. The blast tore through the mist spewed by the lizard as though it were a knife though butter, unhindered by the faux flames themselves. Rancher continued to suffer through the pain of the high pitched wail as he hoped the blast found its mark and replaced the head of his opposition with a fountain of blood.

((Tankita is screaming in pain, but trying to minimize the damage a telepath's 'scream' would cause in the head of her allies and enemies alike.))

[Hysteria]

The dragon’s flames suddenly ended as the creature stumbled to the side. A flash of magic, a burst of blood and the creature’s already destroyed eye socket was ripped apart further. The dragon stumbled backwards, but it pushed forwards in an attempt to stay upright. It failed. The dragon fell forwards, the mass of its neck collapsed over the very ditch that Artheridge had taken cover in. The creature let laboured breaths wheeze in and out of the large hole in the side of his mouth. It tried to summon more fire, but only managed to dripple weak flames from its mouth.

Well, this looks like it might be the last round, throw your attacks to finish it off!

[Bunneh]

As the last explosion rippled through the scene, I sat up, bold and upright. My ears twitched listening out at the sound, and my nose sniffed the encroaching dusk air. Rapidly I breathed, hearing something in my mind of a female scream, almost metallic in the melody, and I grasped the hilt of my rapier more boldly than I had done as yet.

Something was occurring, something was different now.

Scampering over, I peered from behind the drakeling's body. I saw before me with utter surprise the spluttering last remains of the great earthly dragon, wheezing over the bodies of its previous victims. Once more, the female scream inside of my head rose to a crescendo, meaning someone was in pain, someone of clear mental capacity. As I looked over the frame of the dragon, trying to find a final weakspot to quell its fury, I spoke outwardly, attempting to address whoever it was.

Be still, I told the female, my gaze settling on the exposed skull of the quivering dragon. He cannot hurt us anymore. Firmly, I slipped my rapier onto the sheath at my bag and bent down to all fours. He will soon meet his last.

Powerfully beating the earth with my hindlegs I set off at full charge. The main battle was not far away, and I knew it would not take me long. As I ran I tried to ignore the pain on my flank and tail, and instead solely focused on my direction and the building up of spiritual gases within my gut. They rose to my whim, easily and without fail, as they had every time I had called to them, filling my small but lithe form with the magic of a possessed beast. I scurried past the vehicle and a - what the Drys, a red foxy-cat-human - and powered towards the dragon. As it wheezed a painful breath I burst out from between discarded bodies and sooty earth and leapt right up towards its face.

I tried my best to roar before coming down onto his injury, with the bloody open eye socket and pieces of bone peeping from under skin. Through there, I knew by my studies of anatomy, that there was the brain, and this would be the easiest direction to it. And thus, with a burst of pride, as I came within an inch of my landing place of the dragon's scaly cheek, I released the fire in me. They rose, like a wave, from belly to throat via mouth, releasing themselves as hot red furious flames, tinged with magenta at the edges. Magical fire, spiritual fire, call it whatever you will. I sent it at the dragon's wound, right at the wound, giving it the treatment it had given me.

[Zack Blaze]

The dragon was finally grounded thanks to the efforts of noble heroes and a rabbit. The grounds were peppered with blood and bodies throughout, a true visage of horror to the faint of heart. As the chaos began to wind down, two figures appeared just before the face of the large creature; one a ebony colored ogre dressed in nothing more than a loin cloth and the other was the Eiskalt Mastermind, the owner of the Three Stock and one of the most notorious war prisoners Althanas had ever known, Zack Blaze.

"What are we doing here Blaze?" Makai the ogre asked through gnarled teeth, his voice a jarbled mess of jargon that few could even comprehend.

"Taking the credit for their hard work," the street fighter shrugged and smirked as he watched a lithe white puff skip and hop across the body of their target. The brawler raised an eyebrow as the bunny made its way to the dragon's face. "Would you mind taking care of that rat? I'll clean up the loose ends here."

The black skinned servant growled and leapt into the air, straight towards the features of the dangerous lizard. As he fell, Makai aimed his bare foot, easily bigger than that of the ivory furred vermin, towards the small creature. His intent was not only to squash the 'cute' critter but to also push himself through the eye socket of the dragon as well, ensuring that neither animal would be able to rise from the devastating attack.

Zack, meanwhile turned his attention towards what was left of the warriors remaining. A large contraption slowly inched forward towards his singular eyed prey with all the grace and beauty of a drugged elephant. The smell of oil danced around the nostrils of the warrior, and he grinned as he snapped his fingers. Flames erupted from the hand of the teen, who slung the fire with an underhanded pitch towards the drenched, flammable fields. A fin of sorts rocketed across the ground and instantly ignited the entire field. The fires roared as clouds of gray and black billowed upwards as if to taunt the heavens themselves. The heat nearly overwhelmed the hot headed manipulator instantly as droplets of sweat began to stream down his face.

He turned once more towards the dragon and balled a fist up. This time, electricity snapped and popped off of his fingers as he reared back and sought to plant a singular hit upon the beast. His intent was to use his lightning to sear 'ZB' into the skin of his quarry. He did not take any more time to review his handiwork or even see if the blow would have any sort of impact on the creature as he disappeared with a chuckle and a phrase.

"All hail the Dragon Killer."

[Tankita Bananas]

"We did it...." Rancher whispered, "by the Thayne pantheon, we killed the thing!"

He jumped up and shouted praises only to hit the top of his head upon the metal within his iron casing. He rubbed the bump that was sure to bruise as he peered through the periscope once more to survey what damage the creature wrought in its last breaths. His eyes widened at the sight of two figures that quickly became one, a young man with blonde hair. The features of the youth caused the soldier to realize instantly that this singular man was the one responsible for thousands of death inthe country of Eiskalt; the war criminal known as Zack Blaze.

Before he could rise up from his device and detain the rouge, the felon fired an orange flame in the direction of his vehicle. A loud 'whoosh' overwhelmed the entire field as the grounds were lit up instantly with fire. The already near unbearable heat became even worse with the new element all around him. Rancher could feel his flesh as it burned from the handiwork of Zack Blaze. He screamed as he reached up for a latch to release himself from what was now a prison, only to find the metal device to release him too hot to touch. The bar hissed as Rancher literally peeled part of his palm away from his only exit. He looked to his hand to find redden skin bubbling. His throat dried as the last bits of saliva left his mouth. He reached towards the pocket of his pants with his good hand, withdrew a picture of himself holding a little girl, and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Antionette...." his hoarse voice managed to get out, "I was so close...."

"You will not feel for much longer. Rest now, brave soldier..." Tankita's mysterious voice once again spoke to the warrior who survived through the entire battle, "today is not your end.

The top of the tank opened up as the flames reached the contraption. The entire vehicle lit up in a giant fireball as Rancher was launched out from the hatch thanks to the force of the explosion. His body flew outwards and slammed directly into the dragon, his bones cracked and his body burned, dehydrated. His eyes tried to muster tears but found nothing as he reached out towards the machine that made him the sole survivor of his troupe. He could hear the tanks wheel as they screeched to a halt. Or maybe the tank itself was 'screaming'. Rancher's arm fell to his side as his vision went black and his body went limp.

Thank you. He thought as he lost consciousness, a single tear streamed down his overheated face.

[Hysteria]

The dragon half-roared, half-squealed and then, silence. The final attacks, from bunny and war criminal alike finished him off. The result was a mostly destroyed head, bathed in flames as the oil of the mage burned hot. Things were over, although death had been the only real victor from the battle.


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Jack lifted the crystal to his face again as a slight glow started to emanate. The profiteer’s eyes widened for a second before he pushed himself to his feet and tossed the crystal to his henchman.

“Hold this for me.”

The henchman fumbled the catch, but managed to recover and catch it before it struck the ground. He looked up to see Jack no where to be seen. The crystal hummed louder, then without any other warning, it burst into a shower of fine crystal dust. The man looked at the small pile in his hand, and the rest spread over his arm and the floor.

“Boss?”

Jack jumped up from behind the desk wearing a pair of goggled and a lead lined vest.

“Well there goes that idea… WAIT!” Jack pulled off his protective items and stepped forwards to peer at the henchman’s hand, “An amazing cure to be sure, it fixes acne, warts and er… baldness. Package it up, we’re in with a winner!”

Thanks all who were involved. I’ll post up something for the rewards shortly!

[Hysteria]

The appearance of the dragon and the mysterious mage that seemed to be controlling it was the talk across Althanas. Rumours grew as they spread, and stories of 1000 warriors fighting the dragon soon overtook fact. Many a bard spoke of the mysterious long-eared warrior, covered in fur from head to toe and standing seven feet talk. Then there was his mysterious partner, twice the size and clad in iron. Some also mentioned a strange fire imp that appeared at the end and stole the dragon’s soul before it died.

Closer to home the truth was somewhat more solid. While the mysterious green crystal had turned into inert powder, the Dragon’s body was far more real. Payment to those that survived (the few) was in dragon scale and gold. It was hard to salvage much of the creature with the flames burning much of the creature’s skin.

Earth magic was used to repair the road, and fill in the giant hole left by the creature. No one sane attempted to find where the dragon had come from, at least not straight away. Many of the magic schools postulated that the dragon was from some hive deep underground that the nefarious mage had somehow located and enslaved. If that was fact or fiction was a mystery.

1

Alrightly! I enjoyed this thread, I hope you all did too. There were dragons, sentient tanks and Alyssa Snow being decapitated. What’s not to like?

As it is, only two people qualified for the minor prizes, and three receive the major. I’ve allowed two people to get one of the prizes even though they didn’t get the required posts (you’ll see why when you scroll down).

I’m going to keep feedback down to one line.

Logan - 13
Strength: Good use of action, especially with the recognising the realism of the situation and responding. Fantastic activity.

Weakness: You could have been stronger at the start, it seemed there was lots of running around without much effect at the start.

black shadow - 11
Strength: Good interacting with your team mates, fantastic job supporting them.

Weakness: Don’t forget to take damage. The acid was a hint, but in the next post you acted as if you were at full health again.

Fox Owen Xavier - 4
Strength: Solid RPing and action and good use of the environment.

Weakness: As one of the higher level characters, I was hoping for more, both in interacting with the other members, and in how you fought the dragon. Don’t be afraid to try and attack. I really have no idea why you decided to start killing people :p

Bunneh - 4
Strength: Though it twas a short fight, you stuck through it. Solid RPing, action and setting was good.

Weakness: Why didn’t you set fire to anything earlier?!

Alyssa Snow - 3
Strength: Nice Teamwork, you really came in guns blazing.

Weakness: Lack of ability to tell the difference between AM and PM.

Tankita Bananas -3
Strength: Nice determined attacks against the dragon.

Weakness: I know it was a hard part to enter, but I’d have liked to have seen more teamwork rather than creating an NPC.

Lloyd - 3
Strength: Good focus on supporting your team.

Weakness: You overplayed the strength of ‘mother’ quite a bit. Shadow stitching seemed like you should have gotten into cover first.

The Coralian Outcast -3
Strength: It was a hard fight for your character considering the level and his focus, so good job getting into it.

Weakness: Fighting the mercenaries with the team didn’t really suit the thread. It was also a bit ‘convientant’ that he was able to control the magicite like he did.

Leon Adalbert - 3
Strength: Nice strong entry and solid use of the setting and your abilities.

Weakness: You felt somewhat separated from everyone else.

Dedalous - 2
Strength: Two posts and its hard to get a good feel, you were off to a good start.

Weakness: You could have stabbed the dragon in the neck in the second post.

Zack Blaze - 1
Strength: I feel like Zack is a white Shaft. A mother*shutyomouth*. I also feel like I should make a ‘Luck of the Irish’ award just for coming in twice at the end of these battles.

Weakness: It seemed somewhat forced coming in and attacking Bunneh. I get it that Zack is a bad guy, but he still needs a reason. Maybe that’s just that you only had one post.

Rewards:

MVP:
Logan – You struck the first real blow to the dragon and killed your fair share of other stuff.

Most useless character (tie):
Fox Owen Xavier – From killing the supporting NPCs through to watching someone bleed to death, you didn’t use your awesome bow once.
Alyssa Snow – You started so well… then you died. You’ve not been noticed.

Best Death:
Logan – Cut in half screaming ‘from hell’s gate I stab at thee’ (at least that’s how I read it).

Best Team player:
Black Shadow – Saving Logan, shooting things with bows and generally helping people not die (not always succeeding mind you).


The Coralian Outcast
200xp, 50gp

Logan
450xp, 100gp
5 Post Bonus; 500gp, 300xp
MVP Reward; 500gp,
Dreamer’s Helm:
This is a helm crafted from fine mythril. It is called the Dreamer’s Helm as it can shift the wearer for a short time (a post) from the material realm into a dream-like existence. During this time the wearer appears as a glimmering visage of beauty, unaffected by most attacks, magical or otherwise. The helm can do this twice a day.

black shadow
400xp, 80gp
Team Player Reward;
The Blue Robin:
A small metal robin, expertly painted to resemble the real thing. It can sing, fly around and generally be awesome. It can be used as a distraction through a psycho-kinetic link with the owner that allows he or she to control where it flies. It also contains as small amount of gunpowder, which can detonate in a flash of light, and burning anything it was touching. It is enchanted to recombine overnight.
2x Good Will of Corone: Single use 10% off a purchase of any Delyn or below purchase from the bazaar.


Fox Owen Xavier
300xp, 60gp,
Most useless character reward;
A Pocket Full of Coal:
This coal is about the size of a fist, and nearly leaks soot constantly. No matter what, no matter where, this coal will be in your pocket; slowly creating a build-up of find black dust that is a real pain to get rid of. Don’t have a pocket on those pants? Do now. This coal will make a pocket if there isn’t one. As a very slight benefit, you can throw the coal at people and it will appear back in your pocket a few seconds after hitting them (a post). It’s also useful for lighting fires, and will regenerate if burnt or destroyed.

Alyssa Snow
250xp, 40gp,
Most useless character reward;
A Pocket Full of Coal:
This coal is about the size of a fist, and nearly leaks soot constantly. No matter what, no matter where, this coal will be in your pocket; slowly creating a build-up of find black dust that is a real pain to get rid of. Don’t have a pocket on those pants? Do now. This coal will make a pocket if there isn’t one. As a very slight benefit, you can throw the coal at people and it will appear back in your pocket a few seconds after hitting them (a post). It’s also useful for lighting fires, and will regenerate if burnt or destroyed.

Leon Adalbert
250xp, 40gp

Lloyd
250xp, 40gp

Tankita Bananas
250xp, 40gp
Alive at the end; 2x Dragon Scale (Earth Dragon; Resistant to Air Magic), 400xp, 500gp & Badge

Bunneh
250xp, 40gp
Alive at the end; 2x Dragon Scale (Earth Dragon; Resistant to Air Magic), 400xp, 500gp & Badge

Dedalous
200xp, 40gp

Zack Blaze
100xp, 20gp
Alive at the end; 1000gp, 400xp, 500gp & Badge

[Hysteria]

Gold and XP added!