|
Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 22, 2017 16:59:08 GMT -6
All of this was so new to Shara. Running like the wind to do battle against creatures that could actually harm her, even kill her should she screw up and get overwhelmed. She had no direct prior experience to really call on, to help her decide just...just what she should do. Shara had never been a leader. She had never been a hunter. She had never been a fighter. That said, whether she was proud of it or not, she WAS a killer, and for the first time ever that knowledge and experience alone actually served to ease her concerns. Still, brute force was likely not an option here. Even if Nayru could deal with the Gwyllgi on her own, there was no telling just how many Doogs the alpha monster had adopted into its pack. Those two Doogs earlier had acted as scouts and distractions, but the battle had been even. Two on two. Judging by just how long and loud the chorus of howls had gone on for, Shara could expect that the next battle would not have equal numbers at all. So her mind went into overdrive. What could she do to protect Morrigan and Ragnis? What could she do to support Nayru against the Gwyllgi? She was smart, she knew that, and she was capable of forming a plan but...she'd...never felt attached to those she had made plans with before. Any sort of strategizing she had done with, say, Samantha, had been easy. Because to Shara, Samantha was hired help. Coming up with strategies to protect Samantha extended not only protect herself, but to protect her monetary investment. As despicable as Shara had come to see that mindset to be, it had been the reality, and it was not all that long ago. Shara had an investment in this group as well, but it went into a completely different territory. Somewhere gold could not follow, for it held no value there. Shara was invested in Ragnis and Nayru, as fellow dragons who had reminded her that not all of her kind were lost in the past. She was invested in Kara and Tess, for being good, wholesome people who judged not by race or creed, but by character. Shara was invested in Morrigan, who could sympathize with having an isolated people who were disinterested or bitter towards the rest of Elibe. All of them, each and every one, was a good person. Money could never replace them, and couldn't even begin to compare to their value and worth. So when Shara had to come up with a strategy to protect them, the pressure was on a level she had genuinely never felt before. It was overwhelming and...frankly, it was terrifying. Yet once again, just as it had with the first Doog moments earlier, all of those fears fell to the wayside. Shara broke from the treeline into the clearing Ragnis and Morrigan were in. She could see...ancestors above, twelve of them. Twelve deity-damned Mauthe Doogs, and they had begun to spread themselves thin around the two. Drool and slobber dripped from their maws as they slowly stalked around what they had deemed to be prey. Ragnis had taken up a defensive position, just in front of Morrigan. His eyes were golden and narrowed earthy-brown scales had formed along his entire arms. The transformation was not so absolute and mighty as Nayru's had been, when she had misunderstood Shara's desires for their spar, but he seemed to have more control than Shara herself. She could only cover up to her elbows, at most. Speaking of his elbows, hard spikes seemed to jut out of them, and his claws seemed almost more talon-like than anything else. Morrigan indeed stayed right behind him, backing up with Ragnis so as not to allow any of the Doogs to circle behind them. Black magic, energy of the nether, slithered and pulsed along her forearms, and much of her body seemed to radiate what resembled black fire. They were almost completely surrounded, but they were alive. They were ready. Shara and Nayru hadn't been too late. But there was no time for any relief to set in, for Shara's eyes then fixed themselves across the clearing. And she was met with two eyes, each burning with hell-fire that could match the blaze in Shara's own. Oh but it did not end there. Soon another pair joined...and then a third. The beast, at least twice the size of the Doogs before it, had turned all three of its heads to gaze upon the newcomers. It was like a nightmare come to life. Straight from the scribbling of a mad cultist. Like a bedtime horror told to keep children in check. All three heads of the Gwyllgi had mangy red manes, which seemed to flow and sway like flames in the wind. Beyond that it had thin, dark green fur, like rotted moss on a fallen tree. The thin fur allowed the beast to display just how muscular it was. Its heads drooled red saliva, like blood or liquid fire, and its claws could match Shara's own. Immediately it was clear Shara's only hope against that beast, had it not been for Nayru, would be to fully shift and try to kill it before the magic-poor air of Elibe rejected her back into her human form. And while Shara did still have Nayru, her original plan needed a quick adjustment. So rather than stare down the beast that tried to intimidate her, to challenge her, she turned her gaze to Nayru's. “There are too many Doogs around Ragnis and Morrigan. I'll help clear them off of them, and when the pressure is down, I'll move in to cover you.” She wanted to say something that beamed of confidence. To say 'not that you'll need my help', or something along those lines. But Shara didn't have the time. Instead she reinforced her legs, allowing her power to surge within them, and she ran full sprint towards the circle of Doogs. Three of them, those closest to her path, seemed to turn and notice her. Trails of fire carved themselves across Shara's flesh once more, and she could feel her stone pulsate against her breast. “HRAH!”
|
|
|
Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 22, 2017 18:32:42 GMT -6
Good news: dragonbro and magesis were still alive. Nayru decided not to think too hard about what fresh hell those names had spawned from. Bad news: on top of her sense of humor still malfunctioning, there were a dozen or so Mauthe Doogs around as well - she didn't bother counting them, her attention had already shifted to the other presence in the vicinity, the great beast that glared daggers of fire at them all from all three of its heads. It wasn't as... overwhelmingly large as the Gwyllgi she had fought in Vinland, that thing had been just unfairly big, and it certainly wasn't as big as the damn scorpions in Nabata, especially not that giant fire asshole, but as Nayru had learned the hard way now, size wasn't the only indicator of power - and more compact sizes allowed for superior agility for the most part as well.
"Good luck," she responded to the other dragon's comment, but it was all Nayru could truly offer her... acquaintance, or maybe friend, she wasn't quite sure yet. She couldn't risk wasting the time arguing that she could help out, trying to calculate ways to maximize the group's combat efficiency, or how she could support them from a distance. If she was going to support them, she HAD to stop the creature before it could attack them, that was all she could do to help - allow the group to fight on their own terms, trusting in each other and bringing their strengths to bear. Again, Shara could not rely on her for everything; she'd have to learn that other individuals, both human and dragon, could be valuable allies. Not just one person she knew who was a bit stronger.
So instead, Nayru just charged immediately, tearing through the clearing like a bat out of hell as gold burst out before being consumed by shadow, maximizing her halfshift immediately into the profaned blackened scales and the crimson energy pulsing through them that marked her true nature. As the blood red lightning began to course through and across her body, spraying out in inchoate streams through the air around her, she was rewarded by the beast's heads almost instantly turning towards her, recognizing the threat - removing any chance of her managing a lucky first shot, but also ensuring that it would focus entirely on her, at least temporarily, rather than the people she was trying to protect.
|
|
|
Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 22, 2017 19:10:22 GMT -6
As the roar left Shara's throat, flares of black began to flake across her arms once more. Scales as dark as ebony formed all the way up to her elbows, her digits sprouting ivory claws, outstretched in preparation for her first blow. Unfortunately her charge had drawn the attention of not one Doog, but three of the twelve. The one nearest to Shara as she charged turned 'round immediately, ready to lunge at her with the support of its kin.
Yet...those kin never came. Blood red lightning whipped around Nayru, who had jumped straight into a full half-shift in a charge right for the Gwyllgi. Eager to protect the alpha of their pack, the two other Doogs chose to prioritize the greater threat in Nayru than the smaller one in Shara. They broke into sprints across the clearing, each looking for an opening to strike her from behind.
Which left Shara in another one on one against a Mauthe Doog: except this time she wasn't holding back.
Much like her first kill, this one lunged for her throat. Given the full sprint Shara had justt been in she wasn't in a position to evade the lunge. A collision was imminent. So instead, Shara lowered herself closer to the ground, until she was in position to throw herself beneath the maw of the beast. She tackled into the creature with force that would shatter the bones of a man, or even an ordinary wolf, and forced a yelp from the Doog.
Shara wasted no time in scrambling to pin the beast, pressing a knee down on its stomach as it clawed and snapped at her. Flecks of drool landed on her face and clothes, and the beast's claws drew blood from her torso as it continued to struggle against her. Yet before it could succeed or do any real damage, Shara drove her claws straight into the throat of the nether hound.
Whilst the beast gargled and bled out beneath her Shara looked up to Morrigan and Ragnis. A few of the Doogs had caught onto this ambush, while the other half seemed to press an offensive. Ragnis let out a roar as two Mauthe Doogs rushed him. When they lunged successfully ducked beneath them, similar to Shara, and shot his claws up to catch them by the throat. The dragon took a hard step forward and, with another roar, lifted both Doogs off of the ground only to drive them back down into it.
Morrigan, safe behind Ragnis for the moment, had her attention fixed on supporting Shara. The other Doogs that had noticed the dragoness found themselves under assault from several spheres of inky black nether. The spheres were small, and when the Doogs were struck by them they only served to burn away at their flesh and knock them off their footing at best, but Morrigan seemed to be able to fire a decent volley of them without pause.
With Shara's first Doog dead beneath her she forced herself to her feet once more. Morrigan had scattered the remaining seven Doogs left for them to deal with, and the beasts were far too fast for Shara to waste energy catching. However the dragoness was given the opportunity to run straight for Ragnis and Morrigan, between the wide ring the hounds had formed around them.
“Are you two all right?” Shara asked, a touch out of breath as she stood against Morrigan's back. Ragnis just let out a ground as he stood up once more, the two Doogs he had taken down dead before him. Morrigan had ceased her volley of Flux spells, and instead gathered more nether fire around her hands.
“A...a bit shaken, but fine.” Morrigan likely didn't just mean the Gwyllgi. As much attention as she paid their enemies, her gaze continued to flit towards Nayru. There was no fear in her eyes, just...genuine surprise and shock. Shara couldn't fault her in the slightest.
“Stay focused. Damned mutts are going to look for an opening.” Ragnis reminded the two, his scale-covered arms raised and ready.
“They can try.” Shara replied. Just a few more...if they could cull three or four more, Shara may have the chance to reinforce Nayru.
[Enemies: 9 Doogs, 1 Gwyllgi]
|
|
|
Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 22, 2017 21:01:16 GMT -6
youtu.be/D7hTggjkNbsThe hard, solid footing of packed earth and grass was a welcome upgrade for mobility compared to the shifting sands of Nabata, allowing for more precise alterations to her course without major concern. Not that Nayru was really focused entirely on that, just a side thought as she closed the gap as quickly as possible towards her target. Though it seemed that she had not been alone in her idea; the snarling sounds somewhere behind her suggested that at least some of the group had trailed off after her. Good. That was less of a fight for Shara and the others. It... did mean that she was going to have even more sets of fangs looking for a dragon flavored bone, though, which wasn't quite Nayru's favorite idea ever. She wasn't too worried about fighting one, but that was only because she could actually focus on it. Multiple from all angles, not so much. On the bright side, one of the creatures was a bit too eager, and she saw it leap out of the corner of her eye, barely within vision. The first and last mistake it made that fight, met by the ebon scales of her hand and a burst of bloody lightning that ripped the creature nearly in half before she was already past it, moving too fast to stop and make sure it was dead. But then she was on the Gwyllgi, yelling as she punched, and it was smart enough to move rather than try to take the hit. The tree behind it was less lucky, blown apart from the force of the impact rather than any fancy lightning displays, but it was already on her by the time Nayru had turned around. A solid wall of sickly greenish fur met her as two sets of fangs came bearing down on her like death itself, one closing around her fist and the other near her shoulder. It was a small blessing that the third head couldn't quite reach around far enough to bite as well, but the grinding force of the two heads she did have to contend with rapidly reminded her why she f**k**g hated this damned creatures - even if they didn't have the raw power of a Bael or one of those stupid scorpions, they had great tenacity and endurance, perfectly happy to wear down their opponent rather than just kill them in one shot. Of course, those two heads were all focused on her right arm - admittedly the dominant one, but she was ambidextrous enough to use both effectively, and so she did, bringing her left up for a stinging blow to the creature's chest that sent a burst of force through its body despite her lack of ability to actually turn it into a power strike. One of the sets of teeth loosened for a moment, and that was all she needed to wrench her right arm free of the remainder, dropping back to the ground before instantly springing back up with a far stronger punch, this time electrified again in a shockwave of force that blew the creature several feet back.
|
|
|
Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 22, 2017 21:54:07 GMT -6
The only advantage the trio had was that Ragnis and Shara had managed to position themselves in front of and behind Morrigan. So long as Morrigan was safe she could almost endlessly relieve pressure off the two dragons. However they still had to let the battle be dictated by the wolves. Morrigan had good aim and control over her spells thus far, but it couldn't be helped that Nether magic took time. Especially given all of the...f**kery, for lack of a better term, that Morrigan had to experience. Fear and shock could be dangerous to one who was connected to the Nether.
So, Shara wanted to make things as easy as possible for her. Yet she cast her gaze over to Nayru, managing to catch a glimpse of the dragon blasting a nether hound with red lightning. It had been for only a moment, but her gaze had lingered too long.
Three Doogs charged them while the others continued to stalk around the trio in their circle. Their paws pounded against the dirt as they drew near. Shara stepped forward first, ready to meet them. The beasts had a habit of lunging straight for the throat; likely because it worked on the average human, who lacked the physical prowess and probable combat experience to properly handle such an assault. Drawing as much power from her stone as she was, though, Shara could hold off such an attack just fine.
Yet the beast that approached her did not lunge for her throat. Instead it snapped it's jaws at Shara's legs, which lacked the scales she had forged over her arms. Shara pulled her leg back and attempted to punch down, but the tricky beast hopped backwards to evade. Before Shara could adjust her footing at all she let out a grunt as the beast slammed it's weight into her. The force was enough to knock Shara onto her back, but she wasn't about to go through this again.
Shara rolled onto her side quickly, feeling the “thud” through the earth as the doog landed where her body had once been. She saw the flash of yellow-white as the beast bared its fangs once more, and so Shara shot an arm out in an attempt to knock the monster back. To her dismay her arm instead wound up caught in the beast's mouth, it's sharp fangs pressing down against her scales. Shara grit her teeth as she began to feel the pain set in, more and more pressure constricted her arm.
Eager to throw the beast off of her Shara began to pull her arm forward, the raw power and strength granted to her by her stone forcing dragging the Doog across the grass and closer to her. Yet before she could get to her feet a sharp, crushing pain forced a scream from her mouth. During her fixation on the first Doog another had seized the opportunity to clamp its jaws down and Shara's leg, right around her shin and calf. So much of her power had been directed to her arms that her legs were only so reinforced, barely stronger than standard human flesh.
While blood had only just begun to trickle out from beneath her scaled arm, a great deal more poured from the tearing bite marks the Doog had begun to leave. It shook its head as best it could, fangs rending her flesh and sinew more from the gyrations, as sheer agony shot up through Shara's leg. Intense pain bled in with the raw adrenaline that pumped through her, and in her rage she drove her free fist as hard as she could into the skull of the first doog, the one who had lock-jawed onto her arm.
The first punch was not enough to burst through the beast's skull, but a disturbing crack rang out all the same, even above the slithering hiss of Morrigan's magic, or the roars that Ragnis let out. The Doog actually whimpered, it's skull likely on the verge of collapse from the blow. As its hold on her arm slacked Shara dug her claws into its tongue and gripped the inside of its lower jaw as best she could. The nether tainted beast could not pull itself free before Shara drilled it with a second punch, this one puncturing the beast's flesh and bone, collapsing it's skull completely.
Putrid guts spilled from the beast's opened skull as it fell to the side, no small amount spilling onto Shara's bitten arm. The juices burned when they connected with the puncture wounds left on her arm, but she then turned her attention to the other Doog. It had still locked its jaws onto her leg, snarling like a rabid hound as it forced out more blood from her leg. Shara pulled back her good leg as she began to reinforce it, eager to kick the beast off of her, yet the need never arrived.
“GRAAAAAH!” Ragnis came barreling from the side, his full power driven into his right arm. Where she expected to see a massive claw she instead saw some sort of...proto-limb in the place of his right arm. It extended long, and looked thick and heavy, yet it bore no digits at the end. Just a series of spikes that resembled stalagtites. The Doog, blindsided by the attack, didn't even have the chance to react before it was tossed into the air from a fierce uppercut by Ragnis.
The dragon had led the blow spikes first, and they tore out entire chunks of the Doog's torso as they punctured and ripped through it's body. The Mauthe Doog had been struck so high up that it had hang time, enough for Ragnis to take a step forward and ready himself. With one last roar he brought his proto-limb down on the beast harder than Shara could ever have imagined. The ground beneath her shook from the impact, the midsection of the Doog flattening against the ground as its bones were shattered into pieces.
“Shara, back up to me!” She heard Morrigan cry, and she immediately saw why. Another Doog had spotted her, still downed, and moved to lunge at Shara. Yet as it leaped through mid-air, tendrils of black energy coiled around the beast's entire head. Blinded by a sphere of deep black that now encased its skull, it landed a off to Shara's side, giving the wounded dragoness time to scramble to her feet. As soon as Shara stood she felt pain through through her wounded leg. Damn...she'd need to keep it reinforced more if she was to keep on fighting.
Meanwhile, the Doog that Morrigan had encased in a Flux sphere let out a yelp as the sphere constricted and condensed against it. Nether oozed from the now unstable sphere until, at last, it burst, crushing the Doog's maw and head alike, leaving it to fall forward, twitching as its life bled away into the dirt.
“Are you all right?” Morrigan's concern was not clear in her tone. In fact her tone was very even and calm, almost distant. Yet when Shara gave the sorceress a glance over the shoulder, she could catch it in her eyes. She may be connected to the nether but she WAS still Morrigan.
“For now...thanks.” Ragnis backed up a bit as well, his strange limb flaking away as his previous scaled arms were forged in its place. They had managed to take out three Doogs, but four still remained, and they stalked the trio with cautious eyes.
[Enemies: 5 Doogs, 1 Gwyllgi]
|
|
|
Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 22, 2017 22:52:20 GMT -6
She didn't exactly have the, uh, time to casually watch the other group have their fight, not that she could really even see it through the ugly beast in her path, but the scattered glimpses she saw assured Nayru that it was at least a fight rather than a slaughter - she could see bursts of magic and halfshifted dragons running amuck, anyways, and that was about all she really needed to know. Between the three of them they should be able to handle a couple of the overgrown mutts just fine... albeit probably with some injuries here and there, if her initial rough gauge had been accurate. Nayru hoped she was wrong of course, and that if there were any they were minor, but she simply didn't have the time or chance to obsess over it. Trial by fire, right?
And besides, her new best friend in the world, Fido the Magnificent, was just happily bounding up to her to give mama a big sloppy kiss and lick her all over in affection. Aaaand also rip her into bits and pieces, not necessarily in that order. The raking claw strike she blocked by crossing her arms together to absorb the resonating strike, but one of the heads was already descending over her guard as it faded away, barely deflected by raising her right arm enough to knock it away. The middle head passed her by from the momentum, but the right head - her left - came crashing down too, seeking to break her guard entirely. She caught the lower jaw with her left hand and brought the already partially raised right arm clamping down on it from above, and with a great shout ripped them asunder in a spray of viscous gore and a certain degree of satisfaction, that degree being 'great.'
In her efforts she had lost track of the other Mauthe Doog though, a great furry missile that tore through the air and raked blood claws in her side as the reinforcement waned to focus on what was before her, only kept from being a serious injury by her instinctive move to the side to flow with the movement - not rationed thought so much as natural reaction after taking far, far, far too many hits over her time fighting. It still elicited a gasp of pain and a heightened level of frustration though in the wake of just how much there was to keep track of, even with one head down and the first Doog dead. It was barely a 10% shift that propelled her leg into the smaller creature's side as she tried to create a little distance to recover for a moment, but the uninjured heads of the Gwyllgi were descending back on her, and she simply didn't have the focus to deal with it all at once.
So instead the dragon just exploded in crimson light that brightened the darkening night, a torrent of lightning that incinerated the smaller dog almost immediately and blew the Gwyllgi backwards reeling and whining in pain, its frontal fur scalded but the much tougher creature, reinforced by dark magic, able to sustain the unfocused burst of magic. crap! She hadn't wanted to have to do that, Nayru swore, heaving for a moment as she collected herself. It was an incredibly wasteful move that pushed her body further than she liked, unable to compensate for the stress and magical damage like she could with an electrified punch, but she simply hadn't had any other option but to use it to gain a few seconds of space. Her hand dropped to her side tentatively to check the wound, coming back with blood, not exactly what she wanted to see, but the furrows felt fairly shallow and it wasn't like she was bleeding to death - it appeared that her earlier reaction had effectively minimized the blow.
Still, so much for coming out of this unscathed, huh?
|
|
|
Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 22, 2017 23:23:27 GMT -6
Red lightning lit up the sky, no doubt a sign of Nayru's continued battle against the Gwyllgi. Wounded, Shara more than ever could not spare a glance to Nayru's way, which frustrated her. She had wanted to deal with these Doogs quickly, so that she may provide her with SOME degree of assistance. Yet she had barely been able to take on that last Doog, and suffered a careless injury because she had failed to pay attention to her surroundings.
If Shara REALLY wanted to be of use, then she needed to think smaller, for once. Forget the ideal situation and outcome and actually focus on the steps required to achieve it. She wanted to help Nayru? She wanted to protect Ragnis and Morrigan? Then she had to focus on the enemies before her, and recognize her own limitations. Only then...only then could she even attempt to break them.
Luckily for the trio they were given a breath opening. The torrent of electricity that crackled and arced out from Nayru's body startled the Doogs that had attempted to surround the three of them. Each of them had turned their heads to the direction of the sudden disruption, and Morrigan was the first to capitalize on the opening.
Darkness swirled around the feet of one of the doogs, making nary a sound until several tendrils shot against the Doog's torso. It let out a shocked cry, alerting the other three Doogs to the attack. They immediately charged the trio as Morrigan manipulated the black tendrils into forming another sphere around the entire body of the Doog, just as she had done with the head of the previous one.
As nether magic slithered and hissed along Morrigan's hands, the three approaching Doogs were left to Shara and Ragnis. The former hadn't suffered any injuries yet and, perhaps because Shara already had, he charged right at them. One of them leaped against him but tucked an arm across his chest, a spike that jutted out from his elbow catching the Doog across its chest. A second beast ran around his heels and leaped up onto Ragnis' back, digging both claw and fang alike into his body.
Shara wanted to scream out and rush to Ragnis' aid, but she knew now what needed to be done. If she left her post the last Doog would be free to attack Morrigan. So even as Ragnis was forced to the ground by the two Doogs, Shara instead stood her ground as the last one stalked its way towards her.
She was familiar now with how they fought. They were cunning and quick, their primary weapons were their jaws. They were adaptive and physically capable, but they lacked foresight. Shara needed to focus on what was in front of her, yes, but she also needed to stop fighting like a damned amateur. Like a beast. She was something far greater than the Doog, capable of so much more than it.
It was time she proved it.
As the beast broke into a sprint Shara slid a foot back. For the first time since this battle had begun, she fell into a proper stance. Two hands were raised parallel and forward of her face, left fist before her right, as the beast made its signature leap. Before its snout could reach her scaled arms Shara pivoted and drilled her left fist into the side of the beast's head. The force knocked the creature down onto the ground hard, stunned briefly, but not for long enough.
Shara turned and attempted to punch down with her right fist now, but the Doog made a backwards hop, her fist connecting with the hard ground instead. Shara'd seen this trick as well, twice now, and both times it had worked. Yet as the beast did a quick hop forward, fangs bared for Shara's chest, she reached out, claws first, for the inside of its mouth, As soon as Shara saw the beast's maw envelop her claws she stood up to her full height instant. Her muscles tensed and strained as her claws dug deep into the roof of the Doog's mouth.
“STAY DOWN!” The dragonness roared as she lifted the Doog, by the roof of it's mouth, over her head, only to slam the beast down HARD on its back. The earth cracked a bit from the force, and several other sickening snaps could be heard as the Doog's bones gave way from the force. Unfortunately, even as blood leaked freely from it's mouth, the beast still attempted to get to its feet once more.
“Shara, to Ragnis.” Morrigan had walked up to the nether hound. Shara didn't need to look over her shoulder to know Morrigan's magic had blasted the previous Doog to pieces. While this one struggled and snapped its jaws at Shara, Morrigan kneeled down next to it. Nether flame surged from her hand to engulf the Doog and...Shara had never heard any creature shriek such as that Doog did then. It began to convulse, as though it was having a seizure, as the black fire began to consume its body entirely. Yet no matter where the flames spread it seemed that little damage was actually done to the flesh.
Rather than watch Morrigan execute that Doog, Shara turned and made a sprint for Ragnis. He barely held both Doogs off, one hand at the maw of each, as they swarmed his body in an attempt to sing their fangs into his flesh.
It was time she returned the favor from earlier.
[Enemies: 2 Doogs, 1 Gwyllgi]
|
|
|
Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 23, 2017 1:01:55 GMT -6
Nayru's chest heaved with exertion, breath after breath coming and going rapidly as she slowly began to collect herself. There was a f**k**g REASON she didn't ever do that! If anything though, more than regret or dislike of the Gwyllgi, was anger at herself for the lapse in judgement, in concentration, that had led to its necessity nonetheless. It had been a good tactic by the Doog, a glimpse of the increased intelligence of hunters properly coordinated, but the responsibility for its success lay on her.
That anger became the fuel as she began to walk forwards again, staring the creature down as for the first time confusion and almost an aspect of fear entered it. She didn't know much about their actual biology, but being bereft of one of its three heads must have shaken the creature somewhat even before the electrical explosion, and combined the two had served to blunt its aggression for a moment. She didn't feel bad for it. The beast had everything coming to it and more besides. The walk turned into a dog, then a run as she began to close the distance again, and the Gwyllgi snarled before howling defiantly at her, bracing itself for the coming storm as it began to realize exactly what it was facing, prepared to intercept her.
Or... was it? It had dodged her the first time, and she wasn't moving any faster now. Hm. She needed even more speed... more power. Not wasted, but... a memory of the temple doors with Remus came to mind, and a plan sprung up in its path as Nayru resolved herself to yet another stupid idea. As she approached, rather than focus as much on the creature or on anticipating it move, she called forth a massive burst of power, channeling it through her arms is if to strike before suddenly ejecting it behind her, parallel to her forearm - a jet of reddish energy that propelled her punch - and with it her body - forwards at suddenly intense speed.
The mailed, almost slender hand slammed into the creature like the fist of an angry god, penetrating the durable but weakened fur and pulverizing anything in its path, bone and organ alike, sinking almost up to the shoulder inside the creature's body as Nayru's own followed the impact a moment later with... less unmitigated success. She had begun to reinforce most of her front but the impact had been faster than she realized, and it halfway knocked the daylights out of her as well, though it was probably fair to say that the Gwyllgi got the worst of it as the dragon missile bowled it over. Sideways, Nayru was forced to rip her arm out, still covered in the caustic residue of the creature's insides as she sailed over the sprawling canine, rotating in midair to land unsteadily on her feet as she forced it again.
Despite the major wound, the Gwyllgi was still very much alive and if possible even angrier than it had been before. It took only a moment to pull itself off the ground, faster than she had managed and she wasn't even bloody injured, and was charging HER before she had fully recovered. Nayru managed to slug the remaining side head, but before she could confirm the damage the creature's bulk was upon her, crushing her down to the ground beneath its FAR superior weight as if trying to actually smother her, its primary head still mobile and snapping down at her partially exposed head while most of her body was pinned. It was... not how she had expected the clash to go, Nayru had to admit, but perhaps her last major strike had damaged it enough to ruin its coordination. And yet the creature still sought only her death, rather than escape or pause...
The dragon grinned up at the snarling mass of fangs, earning a momentary cessation of hostilities as the creature looked almost confused for a moment, at the rapidly growing light filling her body. Almost like a real dog, Nayru thought wryly.
Then the torrent of blood red light erupted from her mouth, carving through the creature's head and ascending skyward in a pillar of light that curved partially downward as she carved through its body, cauterizing flesh and blood with the incredible heat and force, separating its upper body as though cutting through butter.
The light tapered out as Nayru slumped back to the ground, still kinda sorta stuck under the creature, at least until she summoned the strength to bring her, well, strength to bear in pushing it off her. It sure seemed like a lot of work though, and lying here under her puppy blanket was really comfortable. Or she was just lazy. Fifty fifty.
|
|
|
Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 23, 2017 1:33:49 GMT -6
Once again red lightning lit the dark night sky, the deafening crackle of Nayru's attack ripping through the air until it subsided. This time, however, neither the Doogs nor the other dragons paid the lightning any mind.
Shara forced her claws into the sides of one of the Mauthe Doogs and began to lift the beast off of Ragnis. With an extra arm freed Ragnis, still laid out flat on his back, twisted his torso and drove a scaled fist straight into the snout of the Doog. With a crack and a whimpe the Doog backpedaled, giving Ragnis the chance to stand to his feet at las.
The beast that Shara grappled with, however, kicked both hindlegs backwards and into her chest. The wind was briefly knocked from her lungs and her grip loosened, enough for the fetid canine to wrestle its way free. By the time it landed on all fours and pivoted, though, Shara had caught her breath. Just barely, however. She was reaching her limit, each breath heavier and more labrous than the last.
Once again, just like all the other Doogs, it charged straight at her. Shara slid into her stance as she had for her last kill and waited patiently. Her chest rose and fell heavily as time itself seemed to slow, to match the pace that she forced her breathing to take and share. The Doog kept its eyes right on Shara, but rather than jump directly at her, the creature made a hop to the side.
Shara's patience had paid off, she didn't buy the attempted feint. Instead she clasped her fists together, pivoted to face the mutt, and raised her fists above her head. Shara guided her power up through her body, every last drop of it collecting into her fists. Blazing tattoos began to burn themselves into the scales along her arm. With her energy waning she had to make sure this kill was quick, but she had the monster exactly where she wanted it.
Now came its true lunge, yellow fangs bared and primed to rip Shara's throat out, but with one last roar Shara brought her fists down on the beast's head, with all the strength that she could muster. A dull crack echoed throughout the clearing, and the Doog hit the ground hard enough to echo out a second crack. It did not move, whine, or even whimper, killed simply by the force delivered.
Shara remained hunched over after the strike, nearly wheezing after the great effort. Her tattoos ceased their glowing before they seemingly melted away into her scales. Then said scales along her arms slowly disintegrating into flecks of black, red, and white dust. Briefly her dragonstone glowed, nearly exposed due to the tears she had sustained to her clothing, but it soon became dormant once again.
The dragoness spared a glance over to Ragnis, relieved to see him finish off the last Doog with a heavy stomp to its head. Blood squirted out from the intense pressure, spraying itself along Ragnis' clothing, but beyond the wounds he sustained to his back he seeemed in better shape than Shara.
Ah...and that's when it set in for real. The bite marks and tears along her leg began to throb even worse than when she had first sustained the. Shara opened her mouth and squinted her eyes shut, as if to elicit a silent cry, as she sunk down to one knee, her hands gingerly touching her bloodied calf. “Shara!” Morrigan, having noticed the wound, immediately rushed to Shara's aid. Aside from some heavy breathing she seemed to be just fine as well, that previous nether energy dissipated from her body completely.
“I-I'll be fine...reinforcement helped to stem the bleeding. I could use some bandages, when we can spare...” Shara's gaze shot over to Nayru. She...where was she? The Gwyllgi, or at least it's remains, were motionless, yet she could not spot the other dragoness.
“Nayru? Nayru!” Shara called out twice, so caught up with worry her own pain seemed to come second. She didn't even notice as Ragnis lumbered over to her, tearing off the sleeve of his shirt before he knelt down before her.
“I-I'll go check on her. You just stay here and let Ragnis bandage you up.” Morrigan proceeded to jog across the clearing, now littered with the torn and battered corpses of the Mauthe Doogs. Shara grit her teeth as Ragnis wrapped his sleeve around her leg, but once he had finished she managed to shoot him a small smile.
“Thank you.”
“Mm...”
Well, it seemed Ragnis was his usual self. At least he was fine. Now so long as Nayru was unharmed then...well, Shara considered it sloppy from her part, but it was ultimately a success. They had survived, and the monsters were no more.
|
|
|
Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 23, 2017 16:28:12 GMT -6
It didn't take long for puppy blanket to get old, what with the horrific stench and the entirely uncomfortable weight on her body. At least it wasn't bleeding on her, the breath attack had most definitely cauterized anything in its path and sealed the melted flesh together strongly enough to limit or negate any fluid flow, but... she could hear some squelching off to the side, probably from where she'd punched into it, and the idea of that mess of goop spreading over to where she was lying was, uh, less than enticing to say the last, ha ha.
"Hrrr-RRRRRRRRRRGH," she coherently groaned, pushing the creature's cooling corpse up and off of her to each side - one nice side effect of having cut the top half in, well, half. Heh, she was hilarious today apparently. It still took a moment of lying there feeling sorry for herself before she got bored again and started looking around. She wouldn't been more worried about the others if the sounds of combat hadn't died down and low voices won out; Nayru was stuck between not caring and not quite able to make out who was saying what, buuut her newfound sense of responsibility helpfully suggested that she shove her opinions up her ass so far she was barfing them up for a week and get the f**k up and moving. It was kind of rude like that sometimes.
Oh hey there was Morrigan, except she was upside down. Did... did dark magic invert gravity now? That was actually really cool, maybe she'd ask the mage abou-
Wait no SHE was the one upside down.
Deciding that she would never speak of this to anyone, and consumed by a sudden need to do something, ANYTHING to dispel the horrible feeling of being dumber than a buto alt sack of hammers, the fallen but not actually that hurt dragon finished pushing the damn thing off of her, ascending to her full not that impressive height a little haphazardly before regaining her bearings. Well, at least Morrigan looked to be alive and pretty much fine, whatever that actually meant these days. "Glad to see you're alright," the dragon offered with what passed for a positive smile by her standards - she wasn't being sarcastic by any means, just a little out of it right now and trying not to show it. "How's Sha- how are the other two?" NICE save baby, totally not showing any favoritism at all there!
|
|
|
Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 23, 2017 16:56:12 GMT -6
“Shara's fine...well, she's injured, but it isn't grave.” Morrigan replied, biting her lower lip as she glanced at her shoulder. She had attempted to sound confident when she spoke but ah, her actions seemed to imply she was only so certain of what she said. Still, to her credit, she seemed to take witnessing Nayru's herculean display of hauling the Gwyllgi's corpse off of herself with great stride.
Though er, perhaps the act paled in comparison to lighting the night sky up with beams of red lightning.
Shara, on the other hand, forced herself to stand up once Ragnis had finished “bandagin” her wound. It was a crude replacement for a bandage but it seemed to do the trick all the same. The blood flow had stemmed completely, and with some basic level reinforcement Shara could eas the pain enough to walk. The dragoness tested herself by taking a few steps forward before smiling at Ragnis.
Even the gruff dragon managed to return her smile in kind.
“Hey, both of you!” Morrigan called out to them from across the clearing. Shara saw that Nayru had stood up...had she been beneath the Gwyllgi? More importantly, to her relief, the her tanned counterpart was fine. Or looked to be as such anyway. “Nayru's okay!”
There was only a slight limp as Shara made her way across the clearing, Ragnis following her silently. As she walked she took full stock of the clearing-made-battlefield. Cracked earth, plenty of fetid flesh and blood leftover from the Doogs...though the closer they got to Nayru the less grass there seemed to be. Partially obliterated from her beams of lightning, Shara could guess.
Really, Nayru was incredible. All of them had put in a great deal of effort throughout the battle but Nayru...she handled the Gwyllgi and two doogs on her own, and she didn't seem all THAT injured to show for it. A few Doogs alone and Shara was close to losing a leg, forget attempting to do battle with that blasted Gwyllgi.
“You were...stunning, Nayru. From what little I was able to actually see.” While Shara hadn't exactly watched the fight given the er, combat she herself had been locked in, she would have to have been blind not to catch glimpses of her lightning, and hear the sounds of her locked in combat with the Gwyllgi. More than impressed, however, Shara was just...relieved. So much more than she would have even imagined.
They'd all survived. That was more than worth the injury she had sustained.
“My leg's a bit...banged up, but I should be fine, thanks to Ragnis.” Shara stated, gesturing towards the larger dragon as he strode up beside her. He shook his head, however, before he began to speak.
“Thanks are what I should be giving you. All of you impressed me and...” He paused a bit before, once again, relenting and giving a small smile to the three females. The otherwise stoic dragon let his gratitude practically shine from his eyes. “I wouldn't have been able to do this alone, and if I did may not have survived. So...thank you, for helping me protect my family.”
The smile was contagious, and Shara couldn't help but match it with one of her own. She had helped, hadn't she? For the first time in her life, she'd...really done something that mattered. Something selfless, entirely for the sake of others.
She had to admit, it felt good.
“I don't know about you lot, but I ain't looking to camp out here.” Ragnis stated as he turned towards the direction they had come from. Towards his home. “We can rest up at my house. All of you are welcome.”
|
|
|
Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 23, 2017 18:47:18 GMT -6
A little bit of Nayru wanted to point out that that was technically not fine, fine meant unhurt not just alive, but she had the common decency and presence of mind to recognize that it was still a perfectly acceptable description and not worth arguing about. Besides. They had just survived a harder fight than most for sure, as far as she could tell Shara and Morrigan weren't constant competitors in the land of competitive bitch tossing and while what little she had seen of Ragnis was very solid, he seemed more the type to live peacefully than go out hunting if he could help it. Not that she held that against him at all. As Lynessa had proven, as her own experiences in the last few centuries had taught her, simply... 'living' was a life all its own, even for a dragon, and not one to necessarily be swept aside as inferior in its own right.
-But it wasn't for her, and so Nayru was glad that she'd at least managed to contribute... and that everyone else had survived while she was busy with her own fight. So instead, Nayru just gave Morrigan a cheeky grin and a "nice work!" before the group coalesced again, Shara limping slightly and definitely bruised and blooded, but not broken. None of them looked great though, aside from maybe Morrigan who seemed mostly unscathed. Nayru had her claw marks - and the remnants of what the scorpion had done to her in Nabata - while Ragnis and Shara were sporting more significant injuries. But they were alive, and for now that was all that mattered.
"Just wish I could've done more for you folks," Nayru stated honestly in response to Shara's praise, as ever unwilling to take it at face value and instead redirecting it towards her inability to protect them entirely. Though in fairness, she HAD been talking about Shara having to learn on her own, so... yeah. Ragnis seemed happy as well, and Nayru couldn't blame him. There was a certain ambrosia to the afterglow of combat, of having staked the truth of your existence against that of your foe and proving once and for all that you had the right to continue existing. For him, too, there was the fact that they had indirectly protected his family and village from the predatory pack - which would hopefully assuage Bran's emotion and fear and nip THAT problem in the bud.
"Good call, Ragnis. Let's get moving, we got some stories to bring home to a little girl." Nayru's tone was light and conversational, confident, but betrayed no hint of her lack of interest in actually staying overnight. As much as she liked these people, it wasn't her place to intrude on their hospitality for too long nor deal with the awkwardness of gratitude the next morning. She just wanted to get Ragnis safely home to Toss and Kara, ensure Shara and Morrigan were safe for the night, and then... leave as soon as she found an opening. Hopefully they would understand.
|
|
|
Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 23, 2017 19:20:51 GMT -6
Earlier that night, back at “The Village”...
Despite her earlier vocal complaints, Kara had listened intently to Tess' bedtime story. A simple one, that talked of a little girl playing with the spirits of nature out in the woods. There was no message to them, not like Ragnis' always did, but Ragnis had an edge on poor Tess: he just altered stories of his life. From before the great war that had stolen his first family from him, a time before the hatred between man and dragon had reached the point of no return.
A time of magic and innovation the likes of which scholars were still astounded by. Even Tess found herself left in wonder of the life Ragnis had once lived, and felt truly blessed to hear even a few of these remarkable tales. Blessed to know him, and that he could leave her daughter...their daughter, in that same wonder.
Despite what most would think she actually did not fear for Ragnis. With all that he had been through, all that he had survived, Tess truly did not believe he would die out there. She was convinced that he would return home to them. Either before the sun rose on the next day, or after, he would return. After all he had allies as well. He had Shara, who had been kind enough to gather these allies of hers. And from what she had gathered at least one of them was also a dragon?
What were some beasts against three or four dragons?
So when Tess had closed the door to her house behind her and set off for the village proper, she had no fears in the back of her mind. All she had to do was run a quick errand, deliver a tool Ragnis had borrowed from another villager. She had promised to do it earlier in the day but with all the excitement it had ah, slipped her mind.
At night the village was very peaceful. There was no hustle and bustle of men and women working away, of children playing in the dirt roads. The farmers did not stride in, pulling their harvests to deliver to the village's mayor, so that he might distribute the food to all of those in the village. Instead there was just...quiet.
Of course gate to the village was closed. It had no lock of course, there was no true NEED for one. The doors had been built so large that only the likes of Ragnis would be able to force his way in from the outside. On the other end of the heavy wooden gate were two men, who worked as guards for the night, complete with torches and...pitchforks. Beyond bows and spears for hunting, weapons were not forged at the village.
One of the guardsman, from atop his post, glanced down at Tess and...scowled.
“Well look who it is...the monster's whore.” Tess' body tensed. Even earlier Bran hadn't been so callous or blunt. The words struck a deep nerve. Not that she had been called a whore, but that Ragnis was called a monster. It took a moment for her to take a deep, calming breath, before she gazed up at Bran.
“Not now, Bran. Please. Let me through. I'm here to return Wilson's hammer.”
“Are ye now? Wasn't that monster the one who borrowed it?” ...Ah. She could hear it now. The slur to his words, she even saw how he swayed a bit from his post. Bran was drunk. He'd taken to drink far too often since his boy was killed, ripped to pieces by those Doogs. Apparently Bran's child had spotted Ragnis drawing on his stone once, out in the farm fields. The doors to one of the barns had fallen down and Ragnis, with the help of some other men and women, had helped to lift it back up.
Yet Bran's child had seen his eyes. Seen that they were not the eyes of human. And then he was torn to pieces by monsters.
Really, Tess did understand Bran's pain and anger. If...if anything like that had ever happened to Kara, she couldn't rightly say what she would do. But she KNEW Ragnis, and more over the village knew Ragnis. Ever since she had found him that day, years ago now, he had been nothing but a boon to the village. A hard worker who had earned the trust and respect of the other villagers.
Regardless of what Bran's child had seen. Regardless of what questions she and Ragnis refused to answer: Bran should know that he is NOT a monster.
“That's enough, Bran...” Thankfully for Tess there was another guardsman posted. A good bit younger than Bran, if Tess wasn't mistaken his name was Harold. He'd just had a child of his own, a baby boy, and his fatigue from helping around the house was clear. Still he mustered a kind smile down to Tess. “Just sit tight Tess, we'll let you through.”
Bran snorted, but he didn't argue. The two of them began to pull on a thick rope, one that hung near each of their posts. As they pulled a system of pulleys worked with them to draw open the otherwise heavy town gates. The process took about a minute as the heavy wood scraped across the dirt beneath it, but Tess waited patiently until the gates were opened enough for her to step through.
She then proceeded to go about her business, hearing the gates close behind her. She strolled through the village and found Wilson's house in no time. The older man was happy to receive his hammer back, and was even kind enough to spare some sweet cake his wife had baked earlier that day. Tess tried to turn him down, but Wilson insisted.
Something nice for Kara in the morning, she supposed. AFTER breakfast. Nature knew Kara didn't need any extra energy as it was.
As Tess drew ever nearer to the village gates, though, she saw Bran standing in front of them. His arms were crossed, torch held only inches from his face, yet he did not budge even as Harold tried to call to him. Tess let out a sigh before she stopped before the man.
“Bran. Please open the gate for me.”
“My boy saw what he saw, Tess.” Bran began, still swaying on his feet. Yet no matter how his balance shifted from side to side, his eyes remained locked onto Tess. “And ever since I started callin' you two out on it, you've been hiding him. You hid him today, and you're hiding him now. Know why? Because he's a f**k**g mon-”
Tess brought her open hand across Bran's face, hers like steel as she did so. She loathed violence. Detested it. The sheer lack of violence was why she was so grateful for the village. Why she loved her home as much as she did. But Tess just...couldn't let Bran keep calling Ragnis that. It was wrong, she knew it was, but enough was simply enough.
“Do you know where this 'monster' is hiding right now?” Tess practically hissed the words out to the stunned Bran. “He's out in the woods right now, with those strangers you saw earlier. They're out there killing the REAL monsters. The beasts that have attacked our farms, sullied their crops and preyed on their livestock. He's out there risking his live to kill the THINGS that took your boy from you.”
Tess stepped forward so that Bran could see her. So that he knew, for sure, that as she looked him dead in the eyes that she spoke the truth. “Ragnis is not a monster. You know full well what he is. He's a good man. He's a great father. He's been nothing but good to this community since he came here. And I will NOT have you speak ill of him.”
Bran glowered at her. Not quite seething with rage, but still reeling with the adrenaline Tess' earlier slap had likely filled him with. But he said nothing, so Tess took a breath to calm herself.
“Now let me through, please.” She didn't want conflict. All Tess wanted to do was go home and rest her weary feet. She wanted to check on Kara, make sure the girl hadn't woken up worried about where her mama went off to, and go to bed.
So she was silently grateful when Bran walked back up onto his post and, without a word, opened up the gate. Tess walked through it and padded along the path to her house, climbing the front steps and entering through the door. Gently she walked up the stairs to the second floor of their house, where her and Ragnis shared a room, and Kara had hers.
With trained silence, from years of trying not to awaken an easily excitable daughter, Tess opened up the bedroom door and peeked inside of it. Sure enough, still tucked away in her bed, Kara slept. A fond smile stretched across Tess' tired face as she watched Kara. The child was so...peaceful as she slept. It was almost mesmerizing in a way, and Tess took the time to just watch her for even a minute when she could.
Yet, as she carefully stifled a yawn with her hand, she knew that sleep called to her as well. Ragnis would be coming home in the morning, and he would be tired.
So Tess closed the room to Kara's door, gently and softly, before she padded along to her room. She dressed down and slipped beneath the covers of her bed. There was more space than when Ragnis was in it with her. Too much space.
Heh...the man's gone a few hours and already she missed him.
Tess glanced over to the window across the room, where the moonlight shone through. Maybe she ought to get up and peek outside? Perhaps she'd be lucky enough to see Ragnis, Shara, and their two other allies. Ah...maybe, but she was so tired. She was certain she'd wake up to Ragnis' tired face, and no doubt Kara's excited expression all the same.
...Perhaps, if only Tess had decided to take a glance out the window, she would have seen a lone man. Swaying and stumbling over to her house, a torch in one hand and a bottle in the other...
END?
|
|