[IC] The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

[Rune_Alchemist]

Location:
Llobrokor Mountains
@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR

---

“Heh, range is my specialty.” Cecil replied with a grin. “I’ll get to the other side and take them from there.” Without another word, Cecil leaped off the edge of the cliff, and landed with what could only be considered magic, a gust of wind softening her fall effortlessly as she’d then run off towards the encampment, just as the swords fell from the skies.

Two blades struck the watchtowers, and two bandits would have their torsos impaled. One screamed in agony, while the other managed to lean over the edge of the railing, barely ringing an alarm bell before expiring.

There were cries from within the camp, the bandits not quite sure where they were currently being assaulted from. They’d only have the moment of surprise for a little longer, however if they wanted to land another decisive blow to the small encampment's defenses.

Location
Harzel Plains
@Crimson Paladin@BrokenPromise

---

The dragon indeed seem to be on the move. It was hard to tell exactly where, but she got a vague feeling it was moving to the north. A feeling of elation. Joy. If nothing else…the drake seemed happy with the situation.

“Then it seems we have a course of action.” Lonan nodded. “Then I have a suggestion. We use myself as bait - or at least allow myself to fight the beast mostly.” Lonan spoke seriously. “Tell me what you need, Sir Ethelred and Luana and once we’re done I’ll see if I can’t lure the beast here if it isn’t already on its way.” Assuming this was indeed the trios course of action, then there wasn’t much left to discuss. Lonan would set off on his steed, leaving the two of them to plan ahead.

All they had to do was enact whatever scheme they wanted, and hope for the best now.

[BrokenPromise]

"YOLO!“

— Luana Roycroft

@Rune_Alchemist@Crimson Paladin

Was Luana really going to let a hot, purple haired himbo like Lonan lure out the drake by himself? As far as Luana knew, he had no way of knowing where it would ambush him from. It could also kill with just a touch, and Luana's druid magic seemed to be the only thing that could repel it. Only an absolute mad man would-

"If you say so!“

Luana started to reshape her spear. It wasn't like she could warn Lonan once he was out of earshot. "Ethelred and I are probably the only ones that can work on a proper trap anyway. Let's just move to a slightly different position, since I'm sure our mark is smart enough not to return here.“ She looked at a nearby tree. "I think I'm going to prepare a few spells and hide up in the trees. Once you run past me, I can rain some vines and roots down on top of him. Any difficult terrain we create has to be possible for you to get through after all.“

Once Lonan was set to go, Luana gave him one last piece of information. "I think he's heading north, so you should find some tracks if you go that way.“ Once he was gone, she looked to Ethelred. "If you can cut down a tree, we can probably make a swinging log trap. Or we could do a swinging ice boulder! Which do you think would hurt more?“

If Ethelred thought either of those were a good idea, she'd wrap some sturdy vines around either end of the log/ice block and hoist it into position. The trap would be held in place by a few stout branches that Ethelred could break with a single swing of his spear.

"Alright! I'm taking the skies, I leave the forest floor to you!“ Luana turned into a cat and scaled the side of a tree. She climbed until she reached an over hanging branch. Even as a small house cat, the branches swung around a lot at the end. The idea was that a drake wouldn't be expecting Luana to be a cat, and she'd be able to transform back and drop her payload of seeds as soon as he arrived. She looked at the tip of one of her claws, which glinted the same way Endless Eclipse did. But this time she was looking for Lonan. If she anticipated they were coming, she could raise her tail to signal to Ethelred they were close.

[Pyromania99]

"Wondering if we're even needed here, Elnith." Lunalel mentioned as she summoned a spear of light in her hand spinning it in her fingers for a few seconds before tossing it toward the center of the bandit's camp. "Don't look at it too closely." She warned Elnith and Fio who were still nearby before creating magical platforms of what seemed to be light to safely traverse to the bandit camp. Neither of which should be a real strain on her.

As the spear reached the ground in the bandit camp, the body flashed brightly suddenly and then dissipated. In close proximity it would be bright enough to temporarily blind anyone beholding it. It should give them time to reach the camp while everyone was still dazed. Luna would ready her blade for any unfortunate bandits to encounter her in melee, though she would of course accept a surrender if they demanded it. She was no monster.

[Crimson Paladin]

"I'm not an expert on traps, I'll follow your lead and lend my power to improve on it," Ethelred chimed in. "I don't have a weapon suitable for felling trees, but I'll lend my ice to improve the lethality of any trap you can envision- and ensure that our target won't have decent footing when the time comes." The druid would know of traps far better than him.

Ethelred wasn't entirely sure about Sir Lonan's plan to act as bait. While he had great faith in the Harzel Knight's abilities, he was uncomfortable with Lonan making himself the target of this immensely swift, incredibly deadly monster. Nevertheless, he would support Lonan in any way he could.

"Since you're putting yourself in harm's way, Sir Lonan, you can use my shield," Ethelred spoke, offering the crystalline shield. "Don't worry about breaking it, I believe it can regrow just like my armor."

@BrokenPromise@Rune_Alchemist

[Rune_Alchemist]

Location:
Llobrokor Mountains
@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR

---

“Needed or not, it is better to be on standby. Missions rarely go as planned, Luna.” Elnith responded with a warm smile, the bandits now being blinded were easy targets for the knights. More blades rained down, courtesy of Fio’s magic. Grunts of pain followed as Elnith’s blood red blade followed soon after, easily cutting through the bandits' defenses. A few well placed shots from an unseen archer took care of the last ones remaining.

“...whew. Remind me not to get on your guys bad side.” Cecil chuckled, emerging from the brush on the opposite side of the camp. “Well, that was super easy. I barely had to do anything. My kinda work, ahaha!”

“...eh, these guys are weird.” The Unseelie, Wsip, chimed in from her prison. “They’re all…twisted up. Like some-”

A mountain shaking roar was heard in the distance. Elnith’s head swiveled towards the source of it. Across the valley, on the opposite side upon a mountain its rocks were…moving? Flowing in a pattern much like a river might towards them.

“Fio! Something’s coming!” Elnith shouted up towards the mage. Fio could feel it, too - something terrible was quickly approaching them. An absolutely abnormally huge, twisted and distorted feeling magical energy as if whatever it was was just…wrong.

“Tch…You don’t…think that dragon-kin thing is like…an actual dragon or something do you?” Cecil swallowed hard. “Someone-something is telling me that whatever is coming ain’t normal.” They only had a few seconds to prepare, the creature would soon make itself known.

Trees were knocked over.

Stone ground under its body. Fio could see from her vantage point, a gargantuan creature that could coil itself around a mountain with its body. It looked like a large serpent, though with much more draconic features - a sharp horn on its nose, long sharp fangs for teeth and an angry, hate filled gaze as it slithered along the ground.

It made it to the camp in seconds, rising above the trees as it loomed over them. It proceeded to slam its head downwards towards all present, intent on crushing them with its body.

Location
Harzel Plains
@Crimson Paladin@BrokenPromise

---

“Hm…I’m not as adept with a shield as I may seem, but I shall take it anyways. Thank you, Sir Ethelred. Be ready.” Honestly, he’d have liked to have stayed at the fort and have access to Lifs canon, but out here there was only so much they could do. Perhaps they should have returned, but then they’d also be putting the lives of the other knights at risk, not to mention that hot-headed Grainne.

“...what am I going to do with her.” He shook his head, galloping off on Steblas towards where Luana claimed the dragon was heading, though he doubted he’d have to search long.

…

…

A long, tense hour would pass.

It seemed as far as Luana could tell the beast was toying with Lonan, like he was leading it on some kind of wild fairy chase through the forest. He’d get close, only to realize the drake had left. Look as though he was far away, only for Lonan to narrowly miss being clawed in half. If Luana was paying attention, however - she would soon realize the both of them were slowly circling back to where they were.

Lonan came barreling out of the brush, the drake rolling across the ground behind him. Giving nothing away, he’d keep running, right across the icy spot on the ground, the spectral steeds steps not being hindered by the frost as the Harzel knight led the beast right to the trap.

[BrokenPromise]

"Stay on target..."

— Luana Roycroft

@Rune_Alchemist@Crimson Paladin

"He's almost got- no, they retreated again.“

Sitting around for an hour was boring. Hearing about your ally’s' close scrapes with death, minute by minute, was nerve wracking. But it was important to know how he was doing moment to moment. If he were to fall in battle, Luana and Ethelred would need to change their strategy. It was hard enough to resist the urge to just chase after him. But maybe a short break to stop them from going insane was in order.

"Ethelred?“ Luana was still in her cat form. "This is just our second outing together, but I'm glad I got to go with you. It's too bad Lugh and Elnith aren't here, even if the little guy has been avoiding me. I don't think he’s forgiven me for um, ‘protecting’ him last time.“ She chuckled. "I have to admit though, being a knight isn't what I thought it would be. When I was a hunter there were usually a half a dozen or more of us. We didn’t always know one another, but we understood comradery was important. I would trade secrets with hunters I just met. We were numerous, but our prey was strong and required perfect teamwork to take down. If you doubted your hunting pack, you were already dead.“ She flicked her tail side to side. "This might not be the knightly thing to say, but I... am not sure if I care for how Reinhardt and Sorcha conduct themselves. They’re secretive and detached from those around them. At least that’s how it feels. Maybe once you become that strong you don’t feel like you need to rely on anyone. Do they only treat me this way? Do the other knights act like that?“

Maybe there were better topics to pass the time with.

Before long, Luana would go back to monitoring their purple-haired-half-fey friend, who seemed to be heading right for them.

"Ethelred! Positions!“

Ideally, the spinning dragon would have no recourse once it got onto the ice. The trap they set was heavy, and as soon as Ethelred triggered it, they wouldn’t have much time to escape. But their mark had proven to be intelligent and resourceful in the past, and so nothing could be left to chance.

Luana returned to her normal form and dropped a handful of seeds on the dragon. Twisting roots, spiky vines, they only needed to hold it for a moment. Regardless of how effective the trap was, Luana would then drop onto the dragon’s back and thrust her spear through it’s neck. She might not have been as strong as the knights, but she had the least to fear from its claws. Well, besides being rend in half. But with all Lonan had done, shedding a little blood was the least she could do to give the others a chance to finish it off.

[Crimson Paladin]

"Sorcha isn't always like that," Ethelred replied to Luana as he stretched his armored foot out onto the path to refreeze the constantly thawing ground. "She doesn't show it to everyone, but she can be quite unqueenly when she wants to be. You'll see, just give her time and you'll get the chance to see her let her hair down. As for Elias, the man has always had a heavy burden placed on his shoulders, and it can be lonely at the top. He's a direct descendent of one of the old king's knights, heir to his vast power, and he's been through a lot."

Ethelred turned his helmet's faceplate towards Luana, who was currently in the form of a cat. "But I see your point. Elias and Sorcha don't seem to rely on others as much- they're so powerful, they don't really need to. As far as I know, Elias can't even be killed conventionally. I saw him disintegrated by that black wyvern whose corpse you may have seen earlier, then a short while later, he reappears, unclothed but no worse for wear."

It was precisely because of his severance from most of his past life and of his frozen, crystal-encased state that he was not an "icy" person. Whether confiding in a fellow knight or simply traveling with his faithful frozen steed- the last remnant of his past life- connections with others helped reinforce his humanity in defiance of his cold, inhuman form.

"Lunalel isn't like that, though. You haven't really gotten a chance to work with her yet, but she understands the importance of working..."

Ethelred was interrupted as Lunalel spoke up, commanding him to get into position. He looked up and saw the Lonan riding towards them, wyvern on his tail. This conversation could wait- it was time to act.

Just as Lonan passed, his supernatural mount unaffected by the slippery ice, the Frozen Knight swung his lance to trigger the trap and bring the swinging, spiked mass down on the incoming dragon. This trap of theirs was an example of what Luana was talking about- hunters combining their talents and powers to bring down prey.

@BrokenPromise@Rune_Alchemist

[Rune_Alchemist]

Location
Harzel Plains
@Crimson Paladin@BrokenPromise

---

The trap sprung.

Lonan rode past, under the spiked block of ice.

The beast followed, either unaware or uncaring as it barreled right for Lonan.

Ice cracked and smashed, the sound of bones cracking as the drake was impaled on the block of ice, along with getting solidly knocked back just as Luana fell from the trees and impaled its neck on her spear. Tangled growths began growing around it in an effort to immobilize as it was knocked to the ground.

“Gr-”

The beast was solidly immobilized, Lonan hopping off his steed, Ethelreds shield still in hand.

“You’ll be happy to know it helped.” He said with a nod towards the frozen knight, slowly approaching the downed drake Luana was still on top of. “Careful, Luana! It might have some other trick up its sleeve! Watch its tail!”

The flexible, long tail raised, whipping around and aiming to knock the durid off of the beast as it struggled to get free of the earthen bindings. Even with a gaping hole in its neck, it did not seem as though it was slowing down.

[BrokenPromise]

"Haha, I'm in danger!"

— Luana Roycroft

@Rune_Alchemist@Crimson Paladin

Learning from your failures was valuable, but not nearly as valuable as learning from other people's mistakes.

Luana had witnessed Ethelred and his steed getting swat away by the dragon's flexible tail. What had been a solid blow against the frigid knight would most certainly take Luana out of action. But it was something she was aware of. The druid hugged the dragon's back as its tail flew over her back. She knew she couldn't stab it to death, she just needed to keep it stationary so that Ethelred could deliver a decisive blow. It couldn't claw out of her vines so easily if she was there to ward off its magic.

But the drake changed tactics. Instead of swatting her away, it aimed to crush her under its own tail. She rolled onto her back to avoid the first strike. Then she slid side to side to avoid the next blow, and the one after that. The drake had proven to be resilient, and the fact that it could flog itself over and over without concern didn't surprise her. This wasn't something she could keep up forever.

With a grunt, Luana slid down the side of dragon and hugged it's stomach. Its thick scales provided just enough grip for her fingers and toes to find purchase. She didn't have time to recover her spear, but if her companion's next blow was decisive, she wouldn't need it.

[Pyromania99]

The bandits were easily dispatched realistically. Hardly a warm-up even. It was then that something was flying in the air. A large, mountain wrapping dragon? "What in the world is this?" She questioned. It was quite a bit bigger than the one she was expecting them to have to fight. This thing destroyed the very stone beneath it. She had a thought that, in fact, this was not quite the beast that had taken their friend's hand. And it was trying to crush them? Luna ran to safety, lest she be crushed by such a large beast. She summoned a blade of light behind her as she ran, wondering if her magic would be enough to pierce the creature's scales at all. For now, she needed to keep herself from getting crushed.

[Crimson Paladin]

The trap had worked, and the wyvern had been left stunned by the blow and further immobilized by Luana's vines. Well, except for its tail, which was as mean as ever.

They needed to use this opportunity to strike a fatal blow. Ethelred surged ahead behind Luana, careful as to not get struck by its tail this time. Instead, he came to a stop just short of its tail range and bided his time while the courageous druid grappled the dragon and allowed herself to be the target of its tail strikes.

As Luana gripped it and kept the beast distracted, Ethelred waited for a window of opportunity in between the wyvern's tail attacks to charge ahead, aiming his lance for the wyvern's eye and readying his powers to freeze this vile creature.

@Rune_Alchemist@BrokenPromise

[VitaVitaAR]

"This is..."

The sensation almost made her feel ill long before the creature itself appeared. A growing knot in the bit of her stomach, her bombardment of the camp following.

But it was far from the worst that she'd ever felt, now, now matter how much it made her feel as if she was about to throw up.

Fio straightened, her blue eyes gleaming as the monstrous dragonkin slithered out of the trees. Its gaze conveyed every bit of the hatred that she felt radiating from it all the way to the core of her being.

There was no time to be distracted by fear. No time to panic. Whatever shock she felt had to be pushed to the side as quickly as possible, even if for a moment it felt as if her heart was about to jump from her throat.

First, as she swung her blade, she used a wordless spell to push her distance all the further. Just enough to put her out of range as quickly as she could.

But the beast had made a mistake, in one way in particular.

At least, provided its underside wasn't as well-armored as the rest of its body. If nothing else, this would be an unpleasant experience for it.

"Sura! A dozen blades! Release!"

They would not have particular strength or sturdiness behind them, but she had to form and launch them as swiftly impossible. Indeed, on her words, a dozen ghostly swords materialized in the air and just as swiftly sent themselves hurtling towards the underside of the draconic serpent's head as it came crashing down, rushing upwards to meet it just as it attempted to use its form to crush them.

Fio landed on her feet, skidding across the ground.

Her breathing was already heavy. Every second that passed made her heart beat even faster.

And yet---

"... Dame Elnith, Dame Lunalel, Cecil-" she addressed each of them in turn as she pointed her blade forward.

"Today is the day we kill a monster. Keep its attention as long as possible. Attack its flanks! Cecil, can you aim for the eyes?"

Her mind was already racing. She wasn't used to being placed in a direct position of command, so she was entirely going off of the observable shape of the monstrous dragonkin that had appeared before them.

It was without limbs, so its sides would be harder to defended. If it were to be blinded, it would struggle to continue its assault, and allow her a safer position as she bombarded it from a distance.

Already, she was pouring magical energy down her arm, preparing to create another volley the moment she had her next opening.

@Rune_Alchemist@Pyromania99

[Rune_Alchemist]

Location:
Llobrokor Mountains
@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR

---

“Move!” Elnith shouted, sprinting out of the beasts immediate area as its body slammed onto the ground in front of it. A blade of light slammed into the side of the beast as it fell, leaving only a comparatively small cut in its hide. Fios blades, too, sunk into the underside of its flesh, but even so - The problem with such a large beast, is that perhaps while it didn’t have the best in terms of offensive power…is that killing it would still be quite the feat. The sheer size of it alone meant that small cuts basically proved almost entirely ineffective against it.

It slammed into the ground, kicking up dust and debris, completely unfazed by the assault from the three of them.

“Tch, that thing ain’t right!” Cecil shouted, having managed to scramble on top of one of the watchtowers the bandits had constructed when no one was looking. “Got it though, boss, its eyes are gonna be out! Just need an angle!”

Even as she spoke, the beast was already rearing back up, but instead of slamming itself back down, smoke billowed from its nostrils as its gullet engorged itself, heat building until it opened its maw, a plume of fire spewing from its maw and coating the area in fire.

They were all going to get burned at this rate, a wave of heat flowing over them and threatening to catch all of them in its wake if they didn’t have some sort of shield.

Elnith, on the other hand, didn’t seem fazed and merely ran towards the creature. A blood red flash of her blade as she grasped it in both hands, swinging it towards the creature. Space warped under its head, a large gash spewed blood from the wound.

Location
Harzel Plains
@Crimson Paladin@BrokenPromise

---

The tail thrashed, lashing out. Branches from Luana’s spear breaking slowly losing the resistance she was giving them to its cursed claws. On its side, it could only do so much. Thrash and cry and growl as Ethelred approached, and then -

A sharp shriek as the lanced pierced the creatures skull.

It didn’t immediately die, thrashing harder and of all things, laughing as Ethelreds ice slowly started to work its way across the creature's head, but it noticeably slowed its thrashing. Even its cursed claws couldn’t seem to completely negate the ice from Ethelred, until ice had completely encased the dragons head.

“Hmph.” Before anyone could say anything else, Lonan approached, holding his blade high in the air, bringing it down on the dragon's neck, right above its chest. A clean cut right through it. “No chances with this thing.” He’d say simply, before holding a hand out to Luana. “You injured, Luana?”

[Crimson Paladin]

The fight was finally over. The wyvern was certainly a tough foe, but in the end, their skills and powers proved sufficient to bring it down. And even if it was one of the few creatures capable of surviving having its head frozen inside and out, Lonan made sure it was dead.

Ethelred let out a sigh, releasing a breath of cold mist from his helmet. "That should do it. It's a shame that this thing refused to go down without killing people, but at least he won't hurt anyone anymore."

There were many questions that were left unanswered. Where were these "heralds" coming from, how many of them are there in all, and who were they heralds of? The Frozen Knight suspected that this would not be the last of these unique wyverns.

Ethelred walked over to his horse and mounted up. "I should head back to the castle and await Sorcha's return, she'll want to know all about this." He was unsure if they would or even could safely make use of this thing's corpse given how lethally venomous it was in life, but they'd need to know its location regardless.

@Rune_Alchemist@BrokenPromise

[BrokenPromise]

"Carry capacity exceeded!"

— Luana Roycroft

@Rune_Alchemist@Crimson Paladin

It seemed like Luana had accounted for everything. The beast’s claws, the tail, its fangs. But the one thing that Luana hadn’t considered was what would happen once the dragon up and died. Obviously it would collapse into a heap, but that was a minor concern when faced with all of its other weapons. When the dragon fell, it landed on top of Luana. The dragon’s corpse was coiled up like a snake, with Luana’s arm sticking out from between the windings.

Her hand grasped at the air until it found Lonan’s. Together, they were able to pull her out. The dragon’s hard scales scratched her skin as she was pulled free. Nothing was as flexible as human skin, but maybe investing in some leggings or a shirt that covered her stomach would be wise.

"I’m fine! Thanks for the hand.“ She was smiling, but her eyelids and lips were trembling. She was in a bit of pain. "I didn’t break any bones this time. I’m calling that a win!“

She waved to Ethelred before he departed. "You do that, I’m going to stay behind and see what I can carve off of this guy.“ Before that, Luana would need to recover her spear. She approached the stump of the neck and yanked her spear out. "Take a seat, Lonan. You earned it!“ She walked around to the creature’s claws and drew her dagger. "I’m sure everyone’s going to want a piece of this giant lizard, but I don’t think anyone’s going to miss a nail or two.“ It would be good to have a sample of this creature’s cursed claws on hand, provided the claws were still saturated in magic. Otherwise, she could make a new skinning knife out of one. "Anything you want? I bet that head would look good over someone’s fireplace.“

[Pyromania99]

The damage she dealt was about as she could expect against such a beast. Luna frowned however, hoping it would do a little more damage. "Damn. Dragons are tough as they say." Luna muttered to herself as she unsheathed her sword. She started to move as the dragon reared back, expecting it to slam down once again, only to see something else. Smoke billowed from it's snout and the knightess' eyes went wide. "Fire." She muttered once again. Quickly, she brought up a light barrier to shield herself from the incoming fire breath. It was shaped much like an arrowhead to allow the fire to quickly push past her and require less focus on keeping the barrier up. Once she was free from having to shield herself from the deadly flames, she would drop the barrier and summon a javelin of light to throw at the beast's eyes as well. She'd aim for the side that Cecil wasn't on. After tossing that, she would close in on the monster. If she cast her magic on her blade, there was a good chance for her to do some damage.

[VitaVitaAR]

Fio could already feel the heat from here.

There was no doubt what the dragon was about to do.

Fine. She'd blow it up right in the beast's face.

"Sura!"

The magical energy she had been channeling to form her second barrage of blades twisted, the half-formed swords dissolving and twisting inwards.

Then it spread, expanding, reforming and sliding outwards into the shape of circular barrier, diamond patterns spread across its lumisncet blue surface, reaching towards its hexagonal edges.

"Intercede!"

Flicking her blade forwards, the barrier rushed forward as well, thrusting itself directly into the serpentine dragonkin's face. It was unlikely it would be harmed by its own flames, but a faceful of fire certainly wouldn't be good for it either.

"Reinforce! Reinforce reinforce reinforce!"

And that wasn't all. Each cry of reinforce poured further mana into the barrier, strengthening it again and again. She'd maintain it, shut down the dragonkin's fiery breath, and leave it open for a counterattack!

@Rune_Alchemist@Pyromania99