Dragon Quest: Heroes of Alfheim

[Kyng's Old Account]

A strange sound that fogs the mind,
that feeds on despair and devours the kind,
beckons of a champion, whom was old fame,
yet carries the end of the great land Alfheim.

Your quest has begun!

[hr]We find ourselves with a band of four wayfarers, adventurers, each with their own tales and stories. What binds them together is their task - requested by the King of Alfheim himself, this bunch of travelers is one of the many recruited questers who have been tasked with seeing to towns in turmoil all over a mysterious phenomena: the Echoes. This particular town, in their instance, is the well known town of Tourp. This town in particular is a large export of farming goods. In truth, there was no real quarrels with this town, nothing too important to draw attention save the beautiful Abbey, which acted as a headquarters for both the many nuns and monks of the Goddess, but also the town's Templars.
 
This was the case until a few weeks ago - peculiarly, an enormous tear had shook the ground of the town, this ravine now wedged in a self-formed valley. It was the evening this large rip in the earth occurred which began the echoes to appear in this town, inhabiting the thoughts of the distressed and the burdened. Needless to say, it was now down to these adventurers to resolve these echoes, and bring them to a halt.
 
At the town hall, we find Wyllt Emrys, an old, lecherous, but wise sage; taking a small map of the newly formed terrain, Wyllt frowned in contemplation, before thanking the clerk and making his way back outside to meet up with the remainder of the team. When doing so, he presented unto them the map of the region, before thinking of a plan. "Alright, you lot - any ideas on what we're going to do?" Wyllt engaged the party, offering them a chance to figure out an idea on what to do, partially since he had no clue what to do himself.

[encapturer]

"I hope you feel better soon.  Maybe I'll put on a show sometime here!" Lumine said to a young woman.  The woman in question was an inhabitant of the town, who seemed to suffer from the supernatural Echoes that have been plaguing Tourp.  The young woman and the Lumine exchaned a few more words, before Lumine let the woman resume her duties, smiling as the woman resumed her travels.

 

Once the woman was far enough away, Lumine turned around and let out a heavy sigh, her smile now gone.  [I]No luck at all[/I] she though to herself as she rejoined the others who were waiting nearby.  Good timing too, since Wyllt had just exited the town hall.  Gripping her cloak tighter around herself, she hurried over to the rest of the group as Wyllt asked everyone for suggestions.

 

"Well," Lumine said, looking over the map.  "That thing appeared *just* before the echoes started right?"  Lumine pointed at the ravine north of the town.  "I bet that has something to do with it!  Though..."  Lumine's voice lowered as she spoke.  "It's... kinda big..."

[Asriel Dreemurr]

The somewhat imposing figure of Alessandra Von Blackmoore, clad in that half-plate armor which she had already refused to remove multiple times in Wyllt's sight, stood a little ways back from the rest of the group.  It was not out of any lack of desire to be in their company, rather out of her own insistence to watch the rear of their formation.  The only thing that really kept her from being picked out as anything more than a knight was the fact that her family was not so well known in Alfheim.  By the peasantry at least.  Of course she was in the process of changing that.

 

"And THAT,"  she stated to the group of children, and more than a few adults, that had gathered around to hear her stories,  "Was the last mistake the Barbarian King ever made.  The moment he attempted to ride my father down, horse and rider were skewered with a single thrust!"  That mysterious black and green-glowing spear, Lanze Von Blackmoore, of hers was thrust out in two hands as she mimicked the action of driving the massive blade on it through the body of a horse and into its rider.  The crowd jumped slightly from the action, clearly enthralled by the story.  "And so, my father ended the reign of the greatest threat to our land and continued the proud legacy of Clan Von Blackmoore.  A legacy which I intend to uphold."  On a whim, she turned her head back to the entrance of the town hall and saw Wyllt emerging.  A sigh escaped her throat, and she rested that incredible weapon of hers against her powerful, armored shoulder.

 

"That's all the story I have time for."  She said, much to the crowd's disappointment.

 

"But you said you'd tell us how your family got that spear to begin with!"  It was a little boy speaking, whose hair was soon ruffled by one of Alessandra's armored hands.

 

"Next time, little one."  And with that she turned and made her way back towards where their group had amassed.  She arrived just in time to catch Lumine's suggestion about going down to the chasm and investigating.  The girl's comment about its size brought a hearty laugh out of the woman's throat.  "Lumine, it's a crack in the ground.  Only thing we'd have to worry about is what's inside it.  That said, I agree that we ought to go and look around it as soon as we can."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

He stood a little a ways past Wyllt and the rest of the group, leaning up against the outside wall of the town hall building. His arms crossed, as he fell silent as the group talked. His closed eyes opened as he glanced towards them, seeing the rag-tag group that he, of all people, was posed with. However, it wasn't long at all...before HE began to talk once again.

 

C'mon Loke~ These idiots wouldn't understand someone like US~ Just let me take over...I'll make everything better~

 

The familiar words roamed around Loke's head, as he scoffed, shaking his head. Fen...there is no us. And I refuse to have any bloodshed...especially with the blood of these.... he thought, as he moved away from the wall, before moving towards the three. "I don't care what you plan to do...just don't get in my way."

 

Ooooh, acting all tough now, aren't we? Don't try and act all high and mighty.

 

Keep quiet, Fen...I prefer not to hear your mouth. Loke huffed, as he looked at Wyllt. "So are we leaving now or what, shorty?"

[Kyng's Old Account]

Wyllt chuckled as he listened to the optimistic Lumine's idea. It did make quite some sense. The ravine would most likely hold some sort of secrets regarding this Echoes situation. She did have a good intuition about her. Wyllt rubbed his beard contemplatively as he pondered this, and nodding slowly and sagely, he found himself in agreement with the Mer. Soon after we found the air to the Blackmoore legacy found herself chuckling to Lumine's statement, but also agreed to the notion that the area should be at the very least explored. Following such, Loke showed an apethetic response, but that did mean that at the very least, he'd follow their pace. With a soft sigh, Wyllt spoke up. "No need to be snappy, kiddo. I think it is fairly unanimous that we're investigating the infamous Scar of Alfheim, as it is so aptly dubbed."

 

Rolling up the map, Wyllt popped it back in his bag before rubbing his chin. "I think we should make a start now. We can come back to the town to make some purchases and the likes when we're done checking out what is with the blimmin' echoes, eh?" With a chuckle, followed by a cough, he rubbed his back and readied his staff for the fairly long walk ahead - that was, until a fairly large roar was barked out, and following such, the town's folk in the streets began to take shelter, all fleeing into buildings as a golden visage appeared from above. Soon, it landed, shaking the ground from the impact, and with another roar, it made itself known before the four - a Great Dragon!

 

To the threat, Wyllt chuckled and huffed. "Ah, now this gets the blood boiling." Tapping his staff's bottom to the ground thrice, he began to start casting. "Alright, lovelies, let's go teach this monster a lesson!" It was easy to see that combat had ensued.

 

The Great Dragon started to attack, releasing a breath of fire against the party. The intensity was quite harsh, and with but a narrow escape, Wyllt found himself swatting his hat on the ground to put out a flame. In response he scowled and began to cast a spell: "Kabuff!" Unleashing the magic, the entirety of the party glowed in a brief blue aura, as their resistance was bolstered. Though now needing some time, Wyllt began to charge his next attack, Kazam, as indicated by the ball of dark energy glowing upon the tip of the staff. While Wyllt took this time to charge, the Great Dragon saw an opportunity, and flailed his tail at the sage. He'd need coverr to take the hit!

[encapturer]

"Alright, Let's do this!" Lumine said in response Wyllt's suggestion to head out now.  Lumine began walking ahead of the group... only to stop when a loud roar echoed through the town.  Instinctively, Lumine cast a little cantrip which caused her cloak to rise into the air as if a small wind was coming from below, revealing her clothing, and most importantly, her sheath on her back.  As the cloak rose, she crossed her hands at her chest and pulled them downward and to the sides - as she did so her Blades Shredder and Flare left the sheath, guided by her hands.  At this point she got to see what the party would be fighting.  A dragon.

 

"Don't get to fight those everyday!"

 

She didn't dispell the spell just yet.  Lumine turned her head to Wyllt and waited for his action.  Once Kabuff was cast, Lumine finally let her cloak drape down her back as a cape for this battle.  "Alright... just gotta wait for the opening..." Lumine muttered to her self before calling out  "Buff!" with her hand outstretched.  Her Blade Flare, which was hovering in front of the outstreched hand, began glowing a faint white as it began being empowered by the spell.

 

As she sent Shredder to attack the legs of the beast, she noticed that Wyllt was casting a second spell.  Abandoning that plan, Lumine positioned herself behind the old sage and brought both of her blades in between the two and the dragons' tail.

 

"Grrrraaa!"  Lumine yelled as the tail struck her blades.  She needed to focus as to not lose her connection with her weapons.  With another grunt, Lumine shoved the tail off to the side , landing a good 15 feet away from her and the sage.  Pulling back Flare, with the Buff spell now drained due to the stress of deflecting the blow, Lumine began striking at the tail with Shredder while moving away from Wyllt

 

"C'mon, I'm the one who want!"

[Asriel Dreemurr]

As that dragon came crashing down, Alessandra elected to do something that some might consider...a bit crazy.  Rather than go for a defensive approach to the flames as those considered sane might, she got into an Aggressive Stance and with a battle cry that was soon drowned out by the roaring flames she charged the mighty beast.  Quick enough was this Furious Charge that she actually managed to get herself under the spray of certain death by incineration.  Of course that didn't stop her charging, she carried that all the way until she got to the dragon's legs and set about spinning herself around.  Assuming this dragon wasn't too quick on the ground, and didn't take flight to avoid her, a quick Glaive Flurry turned that forward momentum into circular and had the blade of her Lanze digging into the foe's flesh several times.

 

Needless to say, this left her in a rather precarious position right between the front legs of a dragon how profusely bleeding from the many wounds that had been inflicted by her attack, and so to give her a better chance of survival in the event that the beast should turn on her.  Thus it was that the Lanze was returned to its specially designed harness and her sword and shield drawn shortly before she dropped into a defensive stance.  After all, who better to tank the fight than the most heavily armored one of the bunch?

[Super Chaos Sonic]

The dragon appeared before the party, and the other three had already started work on their attacks. With Kabuff being casted by the midget, the other two just went into action on attacking the beast. Loke stood there with his arms crossed, watching the two fight the dragon, while the dwarf was preparing another spell. They were barely doing anything, which caused the young man to sigh as he uncrossed his arms.

 

"These two seem to be strong enough, yet they insist on playing around with this beast." Loke scoffed, as he unsheathed the blade from his back, holding Silent Knight within his hand, as huffed once....before rushing past the group...at a quite speedy pace. He swung his blade within his hand, making a flying leap and sending a quite nasty gash to the dragon's wing. "If you two are done, actually try and subdue the monster, will you?" he said, sending a glare to both Alessandra and Lumine.

[encapturer]

Thanks to Alessandra charging right between the dragon's legs and injuring them, Lumine was able to pull back her Blades closer to herself to prepare to go on the offensive.  Although she tried to focus herself to cast a spell into Flare again, her concentration was broken by Loke's aggravating comments about her and Alessandra's effectiveness.

 

"You think that I'm just messing around?" Lumine said, her question being more of a statement than a question.  "Looks like you still don't understand..." Lumine said, before shooting a faint light containing her spell to Flare.  "Bang."  Shredder and the Bang-enchanted Flare then flew towards the dragon, one off to the left and one off to the right, to damage constrain the dragon's movements as Lumine scanned the creature to find the quickest way to kill it.

[Kyng's Old Account]

The Great Dragon barked and roared as he glared down to the foes before it soon felt the sting of its tail smashing into the very deceiving strength of the Mer dancer's blades. A roar of fury, it soon felt its tail being thrown off of the blades, another painful rush in its own demeanour. Afterwards, it would bring its attention to a very fast Alessandra - it ended up barking out in pain, its tough scale helping, but not resisting the sheer damage she was inflicting upon the great beast's legs. It had slowed it, and thus made its movement in general more clumsy. Indeed, seeing Alessandra, it was about to spew hellish flames upon her! However, a bark of agony from a cleave straight to the wing. Nonetheless, it would still attempt to slam down upon Alessandra, who might be crushed by the weight of the beast should its attempt succeed.

 

Whatever the situation be, it lay now down upon its back, and with the stygian darkness charged and ready, Wyllt pointed his staff's head at the dragon, speaking rather chesty "Who is yer master, welp?" The Dragon roared and thrashed before spitting out "Dragon Priest will slay you, foolish runt." Rolling his eyes, Wyllt held his spell like an under-armed cannon, before bellowing "Kazam!" With that, the orb of darkness blasted from his staff, having Wyllt sent back a few feet from the force. With easy contact straight to the face, Kazam exploded in the dragon's sight, blasting him up, and down onto his back, defeated.

 

Wiping his hands, Wyllt chuckled. "Well that is that dealt with-" before hearing the dragon, shockingly, speak up again. "Spare...me, runts, and I shall be in your debt. I do not wish to die. I do not wish to see Nadiria before my own eyes." Wyllt, raising a brow, asked the dragon "Oh really now; and I suppose you weren't thinking of double-timing on us, were ye now?"

 

To this, the Dragon grunted. "Bah, you mortals are much prejudiced. I cannot blame you for your quarrels. It is likely that, once I finish my debt with you, I will resume my life as a monstrosity, destroying lives and hoarding wealth. However, my mast-...my former master is intolerant to failures like I - I serve none, save those who would pardon me with my life. I will do whatever it is that you wish, and I will grant you more ease of access into the Scar!"

 

Wyllt stroked his beard, casting Heal upon the Dragon to keep him stray from death so immediately, before raising a brow to the others. "So then - do we listen to this beasts pleas, and take his word for his offer? It seems he knows more of the fissure than any of us. Of course, if we leave him alive, after his debt with us, he'll resume terrorizing. What do you lot think, hm?"

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Alessandra held her ground at first, keeping her shield up in preparation to deflect a blow from one of the dragon's claws or even an attempt at it gripping her in its jaws.  Admittedly she didn't have too much she could do to defend against the second option, but there was still more she could do than what ultimately seemed to be its plan.  At first she'd ducked behind that shield, seeing the beast prepare to unleash its fiery payload upon her, but the sudden bark of pain brought her attention to the beast rather than the back of that piece of enchanted metal.

 

Loke's mocking resulted in a glare of her own being sent his way, and she resolved to make him pay some other time.  This was of course a damned dragon, they weren't exactly things to be taken lightly.  The Heir of Von Blackmoore almost found out how literal that statement was when the beast attempted to slam itself down upon her, and she was forced to roll her armored behind out of the way to avoid being crushed.  No human could realistically survive being caught underneath a dragon after all.

 

Seeing the dragon now on its back, Alessandra smirked and backed herself up from it to make certain that she had a nice range of approach while setting aside her sword and shield to take up the much more offensively powerful Lanze once again.  Of course before she got the chance to do anything, a single spell of Wyllt's had the beast flipping over and landing on its back...again.  The Beast then proceeded to, of all things, ask them for mercy.  Alessandra was, of course, at first clearly opposed to this...but then the creature spoke of being in debt to them and she really got to thinking about this.  Thus it was that she, still gripping that spear of hers in her hands, stepped forward as an executioner would towards his next victim.

 

"You wish us to pardon you, and so I have terms concerning your pardon."  She briefly turned her gaze to the other members of the party, only to return said gaze to the dragon.  "You will serve us until the end of your days, forever bound to us by this act of mercy.  You will become as a slave before his masters, but you will be allowed to live.  Of course the alternative is your death."

[encapturer]

With the dragon stuck down by Wyllt, Lumine drew her weapons closer to herself.  There were still some charges left on Flare, so she cautiously circled around the fallen beast, looking looking for the best way to end its life... Even though Wyllt thought it was over, the dragon may be tricking the party, after all.  Thus, the dragon's plea for mercy came to a shock for Lumine.

 

"You... want us to spare you?"  Lumine asked.  Wyllt then asked the obvious question about a potential double cross.  The dragon reply was... interesting to say the least.

 

[I]He's telling us outright that he plans to go back to attacking innocents?[/I] Lumine thought to herself.  Alessandra spoke up, suggesting that the dragon devote the rest of his life to the party.  Lumine had to speak up.

 

"I can't really force anyone into servitude - it'd leave a bad taste in my mouth.  And there's nothing wrong with collecting treasure.  But tormenting innocents?  I can't stand for that."  Lumine said, shaking her head.  She was more relaxed, but she didn't sheath her weapons just yet.  "I don't mind letting you live, but if you can't stop doing things like this, then it's best that we kill you now," Lumine said, then pausing for a moment.  "And really, I'm sure you'll find that there's many things you can do besides attacking villages and stuff like that.  Just have to put your mind to it."

[Kyng's Old Account]

The Dragon leered to Alessandra. A naturally arrogant entity, it saw great displeasure in serving these mortals any further than his offer. The mere concept of being a life long slave to their every whim revolted the creature, but certainly not more so than its wicked fate. To Lumine, he saw a different light, and in doing so replied to her saying "Bah, you misunderstand - it is not the act of torment I revel in, but simply feasting, and dining on flesh. It is my nature, I am a carnivorous creature and an apex predator. You sentients, your brains have such juice, such taste - it is like denying a mongrel meat outright."

 

With Loke's seeming silence, Wyllt frowned and continued to enjoy stroking his beard in deep contemplation. Indeed a big issue had been sprung from all this. Whereas Lumine wished to end this wicked beast's slaughtering outright with its life, Alessandra thought a lifetime of servitude would put this beast to much better use. Thus Wyllt decided to break the tie with a vote, but first further interrogated the beast. "Why do you fear death, Wyrm?" Wyllt sagely asked the beast, to which the Dragon gazed to him in reply.

 

"Nadiria is a fate all would be wise to fear."

 

Wyllt then nodded. "I see. You must be aware of your fate then, that it lies in the hellfires of Nadiria." Wyllt span on his heels and pointed to Lumine. "But this lass here, she's got a heart of gold. Not perfect, but she's certainly not gonna be heading to Nadiria any time soon." The Dragon snarled with intrigue to this. Wyllt continued to say "We will bind you in a pact, as Alessandra suggested, but to spare Lumine's heart this will be no forced labour. Rather, consider this point onwards as your second chance. Aid us in our efforts, and we'll help you be far away from Nadiria when you ultimately perish. How about it, hm? A ticket to paradise through a more virtuous life?"

 

The Great Dragon took a deep breath and looked amongst them. "I suppose that...arrangement...might benefit us all. If this is your wish, so be it. But I ask: where will my meals be from? How will I substitute mortal flesh?"

 

Wyllt chuckled. "Real Apex Predators shouldn't rely on a single food source now, should they? I'm sure that, if you put your mind to it, you'll find a way to get meats you crave - maybe, perhaps, strike a deal and defend these lands for food, rather than terrorize the people as food, hm?"

 

The Great Dragon pouted. "I suppose I could do such. For now...mmm..." With this, he began to try and stand. Wylllt aided him with a healing spell, allowing it to get on its two feet and beat its wings. With a tremendous roar, it continued to say "...I have learned much of the quarrels of mortals, but the Dragon Priest knows much more of these...Echoes..."

 

Wyllt looked to the Dragon surprised. "H-how did y-"

 

The Dragon barked with laughter. "You jest! These Echoes are the only talk of these days. I am sure you came to enquire about them, it is common sense and logical." The Dragon then looked to the party on the whole: "Now then. I will take flight when you wish, and fly you into the ravine. Tell me when you wish to fly." Following this, the Dragon would remain idle and attempt to converse with Alessandra, asking her about her weapon and how it was so powerful, doing so to pass the time in order for the party to ready up, and soon after head to the Ravine.

 

Wyllt would give the party healing, before hop on the Dragon's back, ready to go - he'd attempt to find his shorter stature either comfortably between Alessandra's buxom, or behind Lumine's fantastic curves, but beggars certainly can't be choosers.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Loke did indeed remain silent, but for good reason. Once again, his other mind began to rage a war of what he should do, and so far they were once again not coming up to an agreement.

 

"Loke, he's already in a state of pain...just end his miserable excuse of an existence~ You know its what I would do."

 

NO! I've told you once before, if I can prevent anymore bloodshed if there needs to be...I will. Loke thought, his hand gripping his arm as they were crossed once more. This was always something that truly upset Loke, this demonic voice within his head named Fen, trying to compare them as one another. Fen, I will not give in to these...and you will not have control of my mind...not now.

 

"Then I'd prepare then, boy! The full moon will rise within one day...and on that day...you will lose. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

 

Loke's face began to slowly loose all coloration, at the mention of when the full moon was going to come. He shook the thoughts away, but they remained even still. Looking back at the rest of the group, as they came to a decision about the dragon...who apparently was staying alive. He was then quickly healed thanks to Wyllt, as he walked towards the dragon. Before getting onto the dragon's back, both him and the Great Dragon exchanged dark glares at each other, before they looked away.

[encapturer]

When the dragon started speaking about how tasty brains are, Lumine took a step back.  "That's... nice..." was all that Lumine could muster in response.  Any rational thoughts in her mind vanished, replaced only with rather disturbing images of the dragon's apparent favorite part of the body.  She only snapped back to reality when her name was mentioned by Wyllt in describing his proposal.  She didn't get all of it, but it seemed to involve the dragon not eating people's brains, so Lumine let out a sigh of relief when the dragon accepted these terms.

 

With the tension gone, Lumine sheathed her Scrae Blades discreetly with a quick motion with both of her arms.  After doing so, she noticed that the townspeople were peeing out of their buildings, most likely wondering if it was safe to come out or not.  Not wanting to worry them, Lumine climbed onboard the dragon, behind Loke, who seemed... troubled... about something.

 

"Hey, Loke," Lumine said from behind him.  "Something bothering you?"  He had been pretty quiet this whole time outside of battle, sure, but something still bothered Lumine right now.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Alessandra was, well, less than approving of Lumine's stance on the matter.  Here was a beast, a beast which they couldn't trust to keep itself from devouring humans simply because they were the tastiest, and she was against doing something which would both benefit them in the short run and keep it from causing the deaths of any more innocents in the long run.  She was actually about to speak out, and quite loudly, against Lumine when Wyllt started speaking.  Before she really knew what happened, the dragon had agreed to take this as a chance to "turn over a new leaf" and was effectively the new member of the party.  Needless to say, the Heir Von Blackmoore was not exactly thrilled.

 

"We're just going to take this...BEAST in as one of us?" She scoffed, and turned away when the dragon asked about her spear.  Normally she would be happy to tell the story...but then again this was far from normal.  She just crossed her arms over her ample chest, and as soon as Wyllt signaled to them that they would soon be off, by climbing onto the dragon's back, she did the same.  She also "accidentally" cut the dragon's side with the tip of that spear of hers on the way up.  She didn't like this fellow, and she wanted him to know it.

[Kyng's Old Account]

Wyllt nodded upon his seat to Alessandra. "Aye, because I don't want to throw out me back climbing down no ravine, and this feller is pretty useful in terms of smarts. Think about the long term, sweetheart, and ye'll see what I mean." He gave her a wink, albeit lewd, in hopes she'd get the message: the Dragon was a useful thing, and to be on good terms with a useful ally is never a bad thing. That, of course, didn't leave the Dragon unscathed by the Lanze, but these things happen when you are now aiding the people who you just tried to destroy. So, taking off his hat particularly to benefit from the ample buxom cushioning his head, the party took flight, their course heading straight for the great Ravine.

 

It did not take long before the Dragon descended deep into the Ravine. So much so that they found themselves before an entrance, leading to a cave on the inside - though it was clearly not left that way. Once dismounting and entering, the Dragon providing them with the guise as his captives, they would soon see that they were inside a ruins, with pillars and bricks scattered across the walls. 

 

Wyllt waddled along with the lot as they passed a number of similarly shaped Dragons on their way. To the rest of the party the Great Dragon ushered "Our plan is rather simple. We will be going straight to the Dragon Priest, since it was he who caused the Tremor and the attacks on the villages nearby. That should stop the major concerns, worries, and thus calm the people, thus eliminating the echoes they suffer."

 

During the course of their flight, the Dragon exchanged knowledge to the party about the echoes. According to it, the Dragon Priest knew that, through fear and paranoia, and particularly anxiety, the phenomena would then prey on the weaker members of the societies. With the major threat being these echoes, the Dragon Priest thus began bending the will of his subjects and had them begin to attack, pillage, and hoard. Why? It was simple, really - all Dragons love treasure, and the Dragon Priest was no exception.

 

Soon they were closing in to the main room of the Dragon Priest. Wyllt looked to the party and whispered "Ready yourselves, you lot."

 

The Dragon then quickly added "I shall fend off the lesser dragons who call themselves 'guards'. You should focus on the Priest. In fact, you may just be able to get a glance at him now...'

 

There, right ahead of them, was the Dragon Priest. With a wicked snicker he continued to mull over his staff. He looked very clearly distracted. This gave Wyllt quite the thought. The sage turned back to the party and whispered "Now, there's two ways I see we can do this. If we can blind them lot, I'm sure you can land a bunch of critical blows on ol' Priesty which should weaken him a fair bit. Or, we can use our Dragon here as a distraction, to dish a sucker punch strategy. Any other ideas?"

[encapturer]

Lumine had to restrain herself in order to not stare in awe at the architecture of the cavern as the dragon led the team through.  After all, they were supposed to be 'prisoners'... so Lumine settled on keeping her head down... ready to draw her weapons at any moment.

 

Once in the Dragon Priest's chamber, Lumine finally looked up and saw the imposing Dragon Priest, it really didn't look like a dragon at all.  Still, it wasn't being killed for its brain matter by all of the dragons around, so it was probably the real deal.  He seemed to be focused on his staff indicating him as a caster of some sort.  Probably.  Wyllt, who for some reason stood at the front of the party, asked about ideas, offering two of his own - blinding the foes or using their dragon ally as a distraction.

 

"Finally," Lumine whispered, ready to leap into action.  One of her Scrae Blades - Flare, came peeking out the front of the bottom hem of her cloak; she had it at the ready under there since the party was escorted into the caverns.  Casting a spell with her free hand, she shot a bolt of light at Flare as she moved it towards the center of the floor.  Once the spell hit her weapon, it picked up speed.  "When it flickers, cover your eyes," Lumine said just before the Blade took its position at the center of the room.  With all attention on the floating disc, Lumine triggered the spell.

 

It flickered.

 

Once triggered, Lumine raised the cloak over her eyes to block the subsequent flash of light.  As the flash began to decrease in its intensity, Lumine began to pull Flare back to herself, and drew Shredder from the sheath for good measure before taking a step forward.  The battle had begun.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

The whole time the party was on their journey down into the Ravine, Alessandra remained unusually quiet.  She was quite irritated about the whole thing, and further irritated when the Dragon made them out to be his prisoners.  Still, she managed to keep silent the whole way right until they reached that Dragon Priest's chamber.

 

"Finally!  Now, let's hurry up and just kill this bastard!"  Of course before she could get into properly attacking the fellow, Lumine pulled that little flash trick of hers.  As suggested, she covered her eyes as soon as it flickered and thus avoided being blinded by the coming flash.  As soon as the flash had faded, she got into a nice Aggressive Stance and readied the Lanze for a charge.  The instant that weapon of hers was at the ready, she charged forward as fast as she could.  Soon as she got into melee range, she set about using that most powerful of combinations of hers.  The forward momentum of her strike was put into a sweeping blow with the blade of that spear from the left, which was followed by a similar blow from the right.  The paths of these strikes would form an "X" across their foe's chest, and with any luck the priest would be seriously reconsidering whatever he had done to piss this woman off.

 

"Taste the Rage of Blackmoore!"  Alessandra shouted as she followed up those two strikes with another one, a hard sweep of her weapon upwards between the creature's legs.  With any luck, the priest would be thrown into the air by that blow.  Should such a thing happen, the Heir Von Blackmoore would simply wait for him to fall back down with the blade of her spear ready to skewer him.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

The Priest, to Loke, seemed like a lost cause...not worth anyone's time. In his mind...the world would be well off without this waste of breath. But this was not Loke's thoughts, but rather Fen's. Though in a strange way, both of them met in accord with one thought: the world would not miss this creature.

 

"Lookie here, seems we CAN agree on something for once!"

 

Loke ignored the werewolf half, as he watched the group rush into action. It began with Lumine's flash attack, blinding those that were caught in the flash. Then came Blackmoore, striking at the Priest, even launching him into the air. The midget known as Wyllt remained still through this whole ordeal, but then again, it was fine with Loke. Drawing Silent Knight once more, he rushed past the two ladies in a blur as he leapt up into the air, sending a downward slash onto the Priest's back, slamming him back down onto the ground. Loke landed, only to see the Priest turned around to his back. Once he was turned around, the Priest was met with Silent Knight's point at his throat.

 

"You are the cause of the tremors." he said coldly, as he delivered a nice sized gash onto the Priest's right arm. "The town has suffered because of your actions." Another sentence ended, as another gash was delivered to the Priest's left arm. "You...you do not deserve the breath you have. And you will suffer...slowly...but surely."

 

"Once again with the slow and painful punishment...one of these days, Shepherd...you will learn to love the embrace that comes from finishing off your enemy without remorse...and within only a matter of minutes."

[Kyng's Old Account]

The Dragon Priest could do nothing but wince, as unlike the rest of the party, he had no idea and was dazzled by the attack. Letting out a snarl, he could do nothing but endure the strike that Alessandra dished out onto him. Scowling sharply, he leered at the girl as she began to go for a blow to dish him up in the air; but this Priest wasn't in a position of power for no reason. With this, he dodged her attack, barking out at her with a hissy snarl. Needless to say, with him not being airborne, Loke's attack did not succeed in going through.

 

With this instance, he leered over at the three, Wyllt running and huffing and puffing into the frey, barking at the party as a frustrated old man would when left behind. The Dragon Priest then spat out "How dare you, common muck. I sssugessst you learn your place! Guards!!" Wyllt rubbed his brow at hearing this, not too keen of the additional reinforcements. In the meantime, Wyllt would simply provide his team with the defensive Kabuff spell.

 

Two Dragons came to the Priest's Aid. Firstly was a Tyrantosaurus, the red, hammer-wielding saurian soldier; and secondly was a Hacksaurus, another Saurian, the green, axe-yielding soldier. Both stood taller than the party, each 10 foot tall and very heavy. Their wings clearly served for nothing more than a burst of speed for their attacks. With this, the battle truly ensued.

 

The Priest was incredibly fast; notably, he had casted Focus Pocus. This ability would cause his spellcasting abilities to double, in that when he would cast a spell, another clone would be casted simultaneously for him. Clearly he was going to be doing something, because he was increasing his magical output. With a snicker he jabbed the Tyrantosaurus. "You two, do not let them come near me. I want their heads!"

 

The two giant lizards would then proceed to shield the Priest, if not by anything else than their sheer size. One of them, the Hacksaurus, let out a roar as he swung his axe in an arc, so as to inflict a range of damage across the board. Wyllt suffered some notable damage from the hit, but fortunately Kabuff worked to protect all the party to a degree by oomphing their defences. After this was resolved, the Tyrantosaurus took a defensive stance, ready to shield its master. Perhaps there was a hint of confidence inn its reptilian eye?

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Loke was almost sure that his strike would've been the end of this Priest, but then again...a challenge such as this had begun to sate his craving for a challenge. Perhaps it was the wolf in him...

 

"These two should not be of much of a challenge." Loke grinned widely, as he sheathed Silent Knight, cracking his knuckles. It had been a while since he had indulged himself in hand to hand combat against an enemy such as this. And with his abilities...oh this was going to be fun.

 

Without even waiting for a response from the others, Loke rushed past them and sped towards the Tyrantosaurus, dealing quite a punch to the reptile's chest. But that was not the end of his assault...he then used the Tyrantosaurus' chest as a spring-board, and kicked off...dealing a powerful kick to the Hacksaurus' face. With that, he moved back, his arms crossed like they weren't enough. Before too long, he began to laugh darkly, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the reptilian adversaries.

 

"Is that it? Could it be that was all you three could possibly do? HA! Right now you are reeking of fear...and I can see it in your eyes...there's no need trying to lie to me." Loke grinned darkly, as he ran his hand through his hair. "And what's bad is...I'm not even using HALF of my true strength on you."

 

Within the dark recesses of Loke's mind, Fen began to grin as his host said this, as he too could sense the fear within these cold-blooded, spineless creatures.

[encapturer]

Lumine pulled Flare back while drawing Shredder, as she surveyed the battlefield.  Okay, so a defensive formation. I just need to... gah!  Lumine's train of thought was cut off by her needing to dodge the hackasaurus' large axe.

 

"Alrighty then," Lumine said, adjusting her cloak.  Shredder and Flare circled the young merfolk while the hackasaurus blocked the way forward.  Extending her arm, Lumine sent out the bladed Shredder to try to circle around Hackasaurus, but the creature swatted her weapon out of the air with its immense strength.  "Buff!"  Lumine called out in response, casting the spell into Flare.  Once again a glowing field twice the size of the Blade itself surrounded Flare, changing it into a defensive tool.

 

With her defenses set, Lumine focused on Shredder, lifting it off the ground and attempted to go around the creature the other way, stopping short when she noticed the Hackasaurus moving to stop the weapon from reaching the Dragon Priest.  Has he fought a Scrae before? Lumine thought to herself.  Indeed, the monster seemed to have a good handle on how to minimize the advantages of her Blades.  And with a defensive formation, Lumine would not be able to reach the priest in time.

 

Of course, this didn't mean she got to slack off.

 

She attempted to send Shredder around the beast again, only to have it knocked down again, but this time, Lumine was ready.  Flare caught the falling blade, and Lumine quickly took control of it again and had it saw at the creature's leg for a moment, before it used the axe to shove it out of it's leg.  Lumine figured she would win, but would she be able to win in time?   She glanced at the others, hoping that they could reach the Dragon Priest instead.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Alessandra cursed aloud as the Dragon Priest managed to dodge that blow of hers meant to send him into the air, especially considering how quickly it had come on the tail of the first two strikes she'd unleashed.  Either way, she dropped into a defensive stance with the Lanze between her and anything the priest could strike at them with...and then the giant reptiles came out to face them and honestly...she was entirely unimpressed by them.  They looked like wingless dragons with heads far larger than their bodies should have been able to support, and she simply scoffed.  Of course she was the furthest forward when Hacksaurus made that sweep of his axe, and though the others were in the way first, the exception being their old man in the back, Alessandra was the one most able to deal with it.  As the blade came into her reach, the Lanze became a blur of black and glowing green as she swept it up to strike the blade of that axe with such force that it was entirely likely the weapon could be thrown out of its wielder's hands.  Following this Lightning Parry, Alessandra took a step back to watch how the two would react to her allies.

 

Loke certainly did a capable job of getting the hammer-slinger's attention and Lumine's Scrae blades forced Hacksaurus to move to defend the dragon priest...and thus inintentionally open a small path along the side of the cave.  Wanting to take advantage of this, Alessandra rose into a more Agressive Stance and charged with all of her fury for that gap.  After all, if she could get past those massive oafs then their master would be easier prey for her spear.

[Kyng's Old Account]

Wyllt, observing the events before him, knew just what to do - The Dragon Priest would not cast Focus Pocus for no reason, he wanted to do heavy Spellcasting, and Wyllt had the best counter-attack to anything of the sort. As such, the Sage thrusted his palm upwards, leading to a burst of white energy blasting throughout the room. This was Disruptive Wave. The attack dealt no damage, and created no force behind it, but its talent lies in the fact that it is a first priority cleansing Skill. It completely nullifies and removes any and all additional effects that any combatant had used. Unfortunately it reduced the parties' Kabuff and that of Lumine's Buff, but it also rendered the Dragon Priest without his second spell effect. "Sorry sugar!" Wyllt called to Lumine. "But if he gets mental with them blimmin' spells, we're done for!"

 

The Dragon Priest growled in response. "Old Fool! How dare you!" He was enraged onto the Sage, and by pointing his Staff towards him he launched a magical spell, Kaboom, towards Wyllt. While the Sage scurried and tried to dive from the blast, it still managed to capture and deal significant damage to him, Wyllt now staggered on the ground as he tried to recover. The Dragon Priest smirked to his work, before smacking the spine of the Tyrantosaurus and ordering him back to work, to go onto the offensive, and to prioritize on the situation at hand. The Dragon Priest then looked to Loke and snickered: "Believe me, runt, you haven't scratched the surface on my servants."

 

The Hacksaurus barked out as he went to recover his Axe, of course. Both dragons were very resistant to traumatic damage due to their scales, phased by melee attacks, but Lumine hit a nerve when dealing penetrative damage to it. It was not happy with Lumine at all, but more so pissed off with Alessandra from de-quiping him. As such it would not give her a quarter, and began to chase her down. This sight brought the grounded and wounded Wyllt a smirk, Alessandra's threat clearly obvious to the Saurians and thus working to their team's favour. Of course that did not mean the Hacksaurus would not attack. It went for a heavy swing of its axe, aimed for Alessandra's unprotected back.

 

The Tyrantosaurus, however, was clearly ready to take out Wyllt. As the sage looked up to the Saurian with a nervous chuckle, the Dragon let out a sinister grin and chuckle. It began to march over to the Sage, attempting to loom over him. However, catching sight of the bragging Loke and Lumine in his range he thought better. With a very deep breath, the Dragon belched scorching flames out, enveloping the party, the small room leaving little to no chance for escape. Wyllt had to endure the flames due to being staggered, wincing from the heat. Only once the Dragon finished his attack did the Sage beating his hat against the floor to take out the fire.