[color=lightblue]"Really?!"[/color]

Rolan was, by this point, unable to keep the frustration with the situation under wraps. He hadn't expected his shots to land home so easily, but the borderline ridiculous whirling the dragon Thrinax engaged in that threw off every attempted attack, the gale force of the movement staggering both him, and sending his bolts hurtling who knows where, the knight sized up the situation while recovering his footing, staying out of reach of claw and flame. He was one the right side of the dragon to evade the flame, fortunately, but the attacks on the others continued regardless. Crushing tail, honed claw, off balancing movements and shudders, and the only sign of the mage was her playing at a glorified chauffer of one of the better knights of the band. Observing the situation, he was reminded once again of the fact that, as far as he was concerned, he was almost comically out of his element. It was time to take stock of his options, moving back further into the shadowy underbrush, valor be damned.

Approaching and engaging in close was pointless, even with enchantment getting his knife in under a dragon scale was the best Rolan could hope to do. Take shots at the glittering hide? Sure, trust that he could pierce the hide enough to actually inflict injury. Alchemical supplies? The alchemist fire would just blind and endanger his fellows without getting through the hide, and his ability to land a blow on vitals would defeat the purpose of a loaded bolt. Same with the caustic smoke, if he had any vials of that left. The rest was poison, which all looped back to landing a blow in the first place. He furrowed his brow, staring at the scales on Thrinax as he moved and fought, his fellow knights engaging how they saw fit, his mind flitted back to the enchantment. Yes, he could rely on that, but frankly? He struggled to allow himself to. There was no promise that, should they have to cross paths with a dragon under circumstances worse than these, he would have a means to just punch through dragonscale. That assumed the enchantment even allowed his bolts to pass through the scale, but trying to pepper Thrinax with bolts was just going to empty his reserves into the whipping winds that each movement of the wings produced.

Settling further back, further out of reach, he moved beyond what most crossbowman would consider a reasonable or comfortable range. If Rolan could not make his strikes from within reasonable range, he would make them from unreasonable range. He kept low, settling into a shooting position, but didn't immediately open fire. He grabbed the most potent poison he had brewed, back when he thought they had to kill the dragon. Valor be damned, he wasn't going to ever soar to the same heights as the other knights in terms of status and station, so why restrain himself? He grabbed a bodkin tipped bolt, the best one he had and the one with the best odds of piercing dragon scale, even slightly. Thrinax be damned, he was not going to simply play along with the contest like the dragon presented it now. Loading the bolt and spanning his crossbow, he took his time aiming. Enchantments be damned, all he trusted at this point in time was his own capabilities, regardless if they were up for the task or not.

Rolan would have to trust the others to hold as he set up his shot, the winds that Thrinax whipped up spinning rendered trying to overwhelm with volume of fire pointless. Steadying his breath, almost to a complete still, he blocked out the sounds of combat, of the rumble of the dragon's voice, everything except his own heart. Steady, steady, slow, slower, panic would unsteady his hand, worry about consequences would unsteady his hand. Watching with nothing acknowledged but the sound of his own heart, he only loosed the bolt when the wings were slowing, preparing to move again but still arresting the last movement that would whip up winds to throw off incoming attacks. He was still aiming for a weak point, not the eye at this distance, but he was looking to land his shot somewhere the dragonscale [i]should[/i], if he was lucky, be thin enough to penetrate. He didn't need the bolt to wound, just to deliver the poison he had coated the bolt in, that would be wound enough. Thrinax could demand that the knights show valor all he wanted, but Rolan wasn't here to be valorous. He was here to wound a dragon or die trying. Let the others argue about how their actions hadn't been valor enough already.