"Fin, watch out!" Maka yelled as the dragonkin charged the archer. Unfortunately Fin was unable to avoid their blows, and worry filled Maka as the snow turned crimson from the elf's blood.
Suddenly a cloud of fog appeared next to her, covering the fallen dragonkin. Initially startled and angry, Maka soon realized Selena had provided cover as the witch teleported into the fray. "Good idea Selena!"
Knowing he can't close the gap quickly enough Bulvi quickly knocks and looses a few arrows before stepping into the mist, hoping to attract the attention of the white dragonkin.
Kalchine moves to where he can see the three dragonkin harassing his newfound ally and brings down holy fire upon one, the stars above seeming to gather into a single, massive disk that sends down a tunnel of light and heat.
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Maka braced herself as blue flames gathered in her hand. Without concern for herself, Maka summoned as much fire as quickly as she could. Her blood burned as she was unable to safely direct the energy, but she paid the pain no mind. The blue flames condensed in a sphere the burned as bright as the sun. Thrusting her arms forward, Maka sent the sphere of fire blasting forward with enough force to push the fire monk back. Hurtling through the air, the sphere found it's mark and the explosion momentarily illuminated the battlefield.
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Fin hisses in pain, more loudly than he’d like, as the dragonkin charge and all three glaives strike home, cutting deeply, his blood dripping down on the snow below. Knowing he’s out of his depth in a stand-up fight against these dragonkin while he’s this injured, he swallows his pride and withdraws to fight another time…heading down the stairs inside the keep, moving up to 80’ as needed. He’ll move down the adjoining stairs a little ways in case the dragonkin follow, they’d be at a chokepoint…
The blue dragonkin avoids the worst of the flame strike, but Maka burns the head of the white dragonkin to ash in an instant. Fin retreats in the aftermath of that blast, making it down the stairs intact. Neither dragon is entranced by Sakitu's pattern.
The defenders on the tower, caught off-guard by the sudden assault, bring their weapons to bear on the dragonkin, but before they can fire the gold exhales a cone of flames over them, killing them. It then swoops low between tower and blockhouse on the north, leaving the surviving soldiers few good firing angles. The blue takes up a similar position on the south of the blockhouse, and exhales a bolt of lightning.
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Getting just a moment’s reprieve, Fin breathes heavily, causing him to wince in pain. Thinking the dragonkin must’ve been drawn away to avenge the death of their comrade, he moves back towards the stairs leading to the top of the tower. Knowing he needed the reprieve, he also knows he can’t leave his friends to fight without him…he just has to figure out how he can fight smartly…
As Fin gets to the top of the stairs, he tries to move quietly while concealing himself…
…peeking out to make sure the coast is clear before he attempts to emerge from the keep and rejoin the fight next round…
Selena doesn't have much heavy damage ability, so she tries something crazy. Selena tries to teleport on top of the gold behind the head, to grab on and stab with her icy dagger sized glaive.
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Sakitu is so focused on Fin that she doesn't even notice the bolt of lightening streaking towards her until it is too late to dodge. The electric energy blasts her full in the chest. She nearly falls to her knees at the shock of it. Out of instinct and fear, she races to the wall of one of the nearby towers in an attempt to get out of the line of sight of the dragonkin. Across the open space she sees Bulvi clenching his weapon and looking for an opportunity to attack. She can help him with that. She closes her eyes and reaches out to him with her mind. As she makes the tenuous connection, she recites the words to a spell feeding his inner rage.
Overcome with rage welling up inside him Bulvi barrels out of the mist his bow discarded. As he charged forward belowing with rage he draws his sword and pushes himself upwards... the levitation magic preventing him from crashing down towards the ground before he could strike.
Burns started to become visible on Maka's arm as she continued to gather blue flames. But the fire monk paid the pain no mind as she thrust her fist forward and sent the flames hurtling towards the blue dragonkin
Kalchine manages to dive out of the way of the worst of the blast of electricity.
He hustles after his partner but the ape's lighter armor and bigger muscles make it much faster than he is so he doesn't catch up.
He pauses to cast a spell, twisting a platinum ring on his finger. There is a bright golden glow from both Triaxian and Frost Ape for a moment that fades almost entirely from vision, though it leaves a golden tendril connecting them.
Bulvi's strike hits, though it doesn't seem to trigger the holy damage. Maka's fire burns the blue dragonkin badly, while Chest Thumper hits with bite and one claw.
Startled by a creature appearing on its back, the gold dragonkin tries to buck Selena off.
It's fairly easily able to throw her off, after which it can catch both her and Bulvi in a cone of flames.
The blue makes a single attack on Chest Thumper and then tries to retreat.
Shatha growls and stirs after Quasit pours a potion down his throat, looking up at her with confusion, though he seems to recognize the potion in her hand and what it means after a moment.
Selena gets bucked off the dragon barely getting a scratch, uncertain whether it even got through the hide, and while still floating with nowhere to dodge, she gets uncomfortably ensconced in flame, which she tightens her clothes as best she can to avoid the worst, but the inability to dodge wasn't helping.
As she floated downward, shaking off the flame, she used her healing hex on herself.
With a spinning kick, Maka sent a blast of fire at the blue dragonkin.
Bulvi presses his attack as he tries to draw the dragonic creatures attention so Selena can heal up. Bulvi drives his sword into the where he had just struck and damaged it's scales previously.
Kalchine hurries after him but can't get into the fray.
Both of the remaining enemy dragonkin crash to the ground, slain by the ferocity of the party's assault.
Shatha wearily gets to his feet and looks up at the sky. The battle seems to be moving away from the fortress again, and if you had to guess, this is because the Dragon Legion forces are gaining the upper hand. The silver dragonkin turns his long neck to look down at Quasit again.
"You and your allies have saved my life," he rumbles in Draconic. "I am in your debt."
Maka sighed with relief as both the blue and gold dragonkin fell to the parties' attacks. But the relief was quickly replace by a rage that made her blood boil. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A draconic roar ripped from her throat and an explosion of flames launched her towards the sky.
Even without understanding draconic, the challenge in Maka's roar was clear. Flames shot from her hands and mouth, lighting up the night sky.
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Seeing the dragonkins fall, Fin struggles down the stairs, slowly making his way down to the courtyard to check on his friends, trying not to drip blood inside the keep…
Upon reaching the courtyard, he looks around anxiously for Sakitu, spotting her, he smiles weakly, and limps to her side, hugging her. ”Hlao-roo, I thought…both of us might not…never mind…wait, I forgot, you’re hurt,” he says as he notices the severity of her acid wounds. ”Rest here, Saki, I’ll see if Kalchine can heal you…”
Fin brushes his lips lightly across Sakitu’s and then heads to find, Kalchine. Seeing him with a very injured Chest Thumper, he hesitates before asking. ”I see your…brother…is hurt badly as well…after you tend to him, if you have any healing left, could you please tend to Sakitu?”
Seeing Maka not far away, roaring across the battlefield, he makes his way to her, answering with a wry grin. ”I’ll challenge you, m’Lady, next time we train together…but I might not be in training shape for a while,” he quips before his face turns serious. ”I owe you a debt, Mistress of Fire…you saved my life. Your blue fire blast drew them away from me before they could finish me off…my thanks to you…”
Surveying the field, seeing the fighting moving away from the keep and seeing their allies taking control, he lets out a long sigh. Seeing Quasit over by the injured silver dragonkin, he makes his way there. ”I see you revived our fallen friend, Q…how’s he doing?”
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"You and your allies have saved my life," he rumbles in Draconic. "I am in your debt."
Quasit smiles and nods, not knowing Draconic but guessing that he's basically thanking her.
"Sure pal, don't mention it." She looks around for the druid. "Hey Kalchine, come have a look at this guy, he still seems really hurt. We should probably get him inside."
As her friends rematerialize near her out of the wind and snow, she gasps a little at their wounds.
"Holy Mackerel! We should probably get all of us inside! And what's Maka yelling about?"
. ”I owe you a debt, Mistress of Fire…you saved my life. Your blue fire blast drew them away from me before they could finish me off…my thanks to you…”
"YOU'RE WELCOME!" Maka screamed her response back to fin.
And what's Maka yelling about?"
"I'M JUST ANGRY!"
Selena blinks over to the friendly dragon, making sure Winter was fine, though the fox seemed rather unhappy and "talkative" after a moment she tossed the fox into the snow as she rolled her eyes like she was getting lectured, which might well be the case given the continue yapping of the fox. She started cleaning all the singe out of her hair, and her clothes rippled to suddenly look fresh and clean and unsinged.
Chest Thumper looked on the verge of joining Maka in her rage filled challenges of the sky.
Kalchine have him a sharp look and a sharp hiss and the frost ape regained control of itself.
He quickly joined Quasit and examined his fellow soldier. He squinted up at the sky and his ears flicked and rotated, moving independently at times.
By the time he was finished surveying the battlefield Fin had caught up with them too.
The Triaxian looked over everyone with an appraising eye.
"I'm afraid my store of personal healing magic is spent for the day. It looks like the battle has moved away from us, though. Lets get everyone to the infirmary. They can provide us assistance there and we can be ready to go if the battle returns or if we need to sally forth."
Chest Thumper picks up the wounded dragonkin, walking awkwardly on his short legs while carrying the soldier in his arms.
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Fin nods wearily to Kalchine. ”No worries, my friend; you have kept us all alive and we have taxed your healing skills to the limit in return, I fear. Good thing this assault ended when it did as I’m not sure we could’ve survived another sortie like that one; we’ll, maybe Maka could’ve, not sure ‘bout the rest of us. I’ll get Saki and meet you and the others in the infirmary…”
The Elf hobbles back to tell Sakitu and walks with her to the infirmary…
"Shhh. Hey babe, settle, we won this one. Sun's getting really low." She pets Maka's hair gently and tries to coax her toward the infirmary along with the others.
"Huh, what?" Maka looked around confused as she came out of her rage fueled fugue. Taking Quasit's hand, Maka followed along with her friends. "Is everyone okay?"
"I'M JUST ANGRY!"
"Would you like a snow bath?" Selena asks with utter seriousness.
When Kalchine mentions healing, "I've got some healing if anyone needs it." she says as she suddenly looks around for anyone who is hurt.
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"Huh, what?" Maka looked around confused as she came out of her rage fueled fugue. Taking Quasit's hand, Maka followed along with her friends. "Is everyone okay?"
"Everyone's alive, though Fin got pretty dinged up. The big monkey too. But we saved that dragon guy who was on our side. I sure wish I could talk their jabber. Anyway, we're heading inside to the infirmary to get some healing for people."
"I've never seen you get so worked up like that. I thought maybe this time you'd actually blow your stack and explode. Don't explode, ok?"
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As the fight ends Sakitu lets the rage fade. Fin approaches covered in blood and wounds. Her knees threaten to buckle but she collapses into his arms instead.
They speak in low tones, checking to make sure that each other are ok. Or at least good enough to make it to the infirmary.
While they are on their way Sakitu starts to cry. "Oh Fin. That was so scary. They almost killed you and there wasn't anything I could do to stop it. Why are they that way? Why is everyone so mean and so wanting to kill each other? I just don't understand." She holds his arm more tightly while they walk. Tears roll down her furry cheeks.
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Fin gives a weary but very fond smile as he looks to Sakitu. ”Don’t cry, Hlao-roo. Yes those magnificent creatures almost killed me…but the key word there is almost…as long as it’s only almost, I’ll be just fine,” he says with a wink. He leans down for a second, but then thinks better of it. ”Ah, Saki, I was going to kiss you, but I don’t want to get blood all over you…later though, once I’m cleaned up…I foresee a very long soak in the baths for this Elf tonight…”
Fin ponders as they continue to make their way to the infirmary. ”As for your question, I don’t know why they are like they are…I guess it’s just in their nature…asit turns out, there are some folk like us whose nature it is to stop them…”
"Would you like a snow bath?" Selena asks with utter seriousness.
"A bath does sound nice."
"I've never seen you get so worked up like that. I thought maybe this time you'd actually blow your stack and explode. Don't explode, ok?"
"I'm not sure what happened, I was just angrier than I've ever been. And then no one would fight me, which just made it worst!" Maka took a deep breath and centered herself. "But don't worry, I'll do my best not to explode!" Maka replied to Quasit with a toothy grin.
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"No. Even almost is not fine. Not for me. I've just found you and it would kill me if you were to die." She continues walking with Fin, holding his arm tight and when leans down to kiss her she feels a surge of excitement. Then he pulled back and that cause another surge but this time of dread. Had she said something wrong?
"Ah, Saki, I was going to kiss you, but I don’t want to get blood all over you…later though, once I’m cleaned up…I foresee a very long soak in the baths for this Elf tonight…"
She stops in her tracks and pulls Fin to a stop. "Don't say such silly things. Do you think I care about getting your blood all over me? After all that?" she inclines her head back towards where they had come from. She pulls Fin close and kisses him deeply. "As for the baths. That sounds like a great idea. After we get healed, of course."
They continue to the infirmary. "So you're saying that it is just in some creature's nature to attack and destroy? I know that some creatures are evil. Maybe that's what you mean. It's a terrible world that we live in."
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”As you wish,” Fin says as he returns the kiss, wiping away a small streak of his blood from her face with his thumb afterwards…
They continue to the infirmary. "So you're saying that it is just in some creature's nature to attack and destroy? I know that some creatures are evil. Maybe that's what you mean. It's a terrible world that we live in."
Fin scrunches up his eyebrows, thinking for a moment before answering. ”I don’t know if I should’ve put the dragonkin in that category…while there are some creatures that are inherently evil, dragonkin are probably more driven by their environment. The dragonkin here at the keep are obviously not evil, while the ones from the Drakelands, by all appearances, are…
“To clarify my initial point though, I’ll relate an old Elven fable I was told as a child…”
A scorpion was walking along the bank of a river, wondering how to get to the other side. Suddenly he saw a fox. He asked the fox to take him on his back across the river. The fox said, "No, if I do that you'll sting me, and I'll drown." The scorpion assured him, "If I did that, we'd both drown." So the fox thought about it and finally agreed. So the scorpion climbed up on his back, and the fox began to swim. But halfway across the river, the scorpion stung him. As the poison filled his veins, the fox turned to the scorpion and said, "Why did you do that? Now you'll drown too." The scorpion simply replied, "I couldn't help it, it’s my nature."
Reaching down to take Sakitu’s hand, Fin smiles wistfully as he remembers. ”We Elves tend to teach our children in parables and fables…”
As they get close to the infirmary, he thinks on how much he’ll enjoy this evening’s bath…
The battle above continues to move further from the walls, until a point at which it starts to be clear that one side is retreating, and the other pursuing. The Dragon Legion does not pursue the Drakelanders far from the walls of Spurhorn, however, and soon enough they turn back.
Shatha calls out a greeting to them, but he follows the party as they head inside, wings still too injured to take to the sky comfortably. The healers inside are stretched thin, but you quickly learn that you've been given priority to be healed... because the Commander wants to see you when you're in fighting shape again.