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WHO: Kain, Inessa, Kattrin, James, and Samouel (and a couple of mabaris!)
WHAT: Kain gets revenge on a dragon at long last
WHEN: End of the month
WHERE: Vimmark mountains, far from any settlements
NOTES: Fighting

While exploring the surroundings areas after arriving at Kirkwall, Kain encountered a High Dragon sometime in the beginning of May. He tried to take it on himself, failed, and spent May in a painful recovery. Now he’s out for revenge, so he's taken a team along to slay this dragon… Given how dangerous dragons are, it’s not good to risk it ever leaving the mountains and coming any closer to Kirkwall itself. So Kain has gotten the ok to go ahead with this whole thing.

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A thundering roar fills the air, as the massive dragon gradually swoops closer. At first, it simply flies over the area, circling around far our of reach of bows or magic, clearly agitated by the presence of the intruders. Then, with another roar, it lets loose, a huge burst of fire aimed down toward the whole group.

“Now! Let’s do this!” Kain has backed away just barely from the flames, though some manages to singe his hair a bit. He holds his sword steady, waiting for the long-range fighters to get the first hits in, waiting for it to land.

That roar sends a shiver down Inessa's spine, though she stands her ground regardless. She waits, waits...and then, as it draws breath for an attack, she casts Barrier around herself and everyone else.

"Don't forget the fire resistance tonics I gave you!" That goes for everyone, as Inessa took care to make a decent amount for all. As for the mabari, she's passed on her knowledge of fire-resistant kaddis, so they should be fine. After her initial spell is cast, Inessa casts Blizzard when it lands, calling forth dark clouds and brutal winds to chill the dragon. Garahel stands before her like the shield he his, ready to take attention of her whenever it's required.

She is no fighter and she knows it. For that reason, she stays close enough to be shielded as needed. After all, being able to defend herself hardly means the same thing as fighting a dragon.

"I will make healing my priority!" She makes sure everyone hears her as she pulls out some lyrium to drink before taking a deep breath and murmuring prayers to her gods. She knows she needs their guidance to win this battle. For they are strong and will surely bring them victory.

"We will take the creature from the rear!" James yelled, as he and Interceptor moved together to the far end of the field, shield lifting up to protect him and his mabari from the flames. He made it to the other side, and the moment the dragon landed, he and Interceptor moved together as one battle unit, going for the creature's back leg to weaken it.

"Jam-!" he starts, but James and Interceptor are already running to the other side of the battle -
thankfully they waited long enough to at least get a barrier. "Everyone stay on your guard!" With that Sam starts running off in the direction that James went, just so they had healing and support for everyone in the fight and no one could easily be singled out.

Kain stays around long enough for the barrier, making sure to down one of the tonics right away. He doesn't intend to hold back, after all, and he's going to need that fire resistance with what he intends to do. He may be powered by taking hits, strengthened by pain... but even he wouldn't be able to withstand dragon-fire. It's a good thing they're well-covered by healers.

He charges forth the moment the dragon lands, swinging his massive sword, Dragon's Fang, right toward one of the dragon's front legs. He's already got Ring of Pain activated, and Dragon-Rage, feeling the fury of his previous failure weighing on him. It's oddly to his advantage that he's not coming in to this at full health... the previous wounds only fuel his strength now as he slashes at the dragon.

The dragon, of course, doesn't seem at all slowed yet by their blows. It shakes itself a little after that ice bitterly chills it, but regains its form to blast fire toward Inessa and anyone else who happens to be in front. Its claws slice toward Kain, who braces himself against them. In the back, that mighty tail of its swings wildly, attempting to slam into James with full force.

With at least two other healers, especially Spirit Healers, Inessa is free to concentrate her efforts for the offense. It's not all about elemental magic, though. As the dragon lands, and blasts fire in her direction, she trust the barrier to hold while casting a Vulnerability Hex to make it even more susceptible to her ice spells, then follows through with Winter's Grasp. She knows it's too big to freeze in place, but the chill will slow it down nonetheless.

Garahel, with his fire-resistance kaddis, barks and snaps at the dragon to keep its attention off Inessa as much as he's capable.

James gets into position just as Sam comes running behind him, and the Templar rolls his eyes before he grabs the other man and firmly drags him behind him and Interceptor. Pointing to his mabari - "Guard Him."

He lifts his shield again as the wings swing out, and Interceptor knocks Sam to the side so both of them are out of the way of the blast. James takes the hit and goes flying onto his back, but the shield took most of the deadly force out of it. He rolls to his feet, and charges in again, while Interceptor acts as Sam's shield.

For now her focus is on Kain. She casts a healing spell his way to continue to keep him going, making sure that it isn't one that will heal him all the way. Their travels here have taught her some things about the members of her party and this one in particular requires the pain to fuel his abilities. Though she needs to keep him alive, she needs to let him feel pain too.

Glancing at Sam and James, she notes that they're not too bad off and currently out of her range. Very well. She'll focus on the three who still are.

That was the whole reason he had chased after James seeing as the Templar had decided to split from the group far enough to be out of spell range. Even so he wasn't expecting James to stop and then puts him bodily behind him. Before he could find his bearings he finds himself being body slammed by a mabari. Obviously it's for good reason as he watches as James goes flying backward where they once were standing and lands on his back.

Sam gives a huff, shaking his head, but doesn't say a word to it, instead pulling out his sword and focusing on a spell. As James charges past there is a distinct green glow that flows over him for a moment as Sam casts Heroic Defense over him, bolstering his physical and magical defense.

Each of the hits from the group strikes, though the dragon’s hide protects it from being anything worse than surface wounds, at the moment. Still, a few cuts here and there on it may be an encouraging sight. That ice cold chill settles over the air over the dragon, and its massive form shakes, a roar following as it once again manages to withstand the blast. There’s another fire blast from the dragon as if to counter that cold, the dragon’s head swaying from side to side as it shoots out that flame. It starts to flap its wings, then…

“Watch out!! Major attack incoming!”

Kain manages to catch just enough breath to shout the warning. He knows all too well what that entails, just from studying dragon behavior, and seeing it in action up close and personal last time. Sure enough, the dragon increases the intensity of each flap of wings, attempting to draw the fighters closer and at the same time sending forth damaging bursts of wind at them.

But this is good, as far as Kain is concerned… even if he grunts in pain by the end of that attack. The more damage to him, the more he can deal to the dragon. The healing from Kattrin is keeping him from falling below usefulness, which is the whole problem that happened last time, of course. After the dragon’s wings calm down, he spins into his own whirlwind attack, sword striking harder than before.

Oh, Maker. Inessa winces as the dragon begins to flap its wings, having been told before what's coming. She tries to use Fade Step to blur away in time, though the winds draw her in close before she can make her escape. Garahel places himself between the dragon and his mistress while she casts a Misdirection Hex on the it, hoping to buy her allies some time.

"Quick, while the hex lasts!"

James yells towards Sam and Interceptor, "Stay Back!"

Then the wings draw him in and he puts up a good Indomitable Defense, holding up his shield to form a wall to keep those breezes from tearing him apart. Thus, leaving him precisely where he wants to be.

Back leg, close to the other mages and Kain, and he begins his attack on the leg with the use of Charging Bull, trying to crack the bone of the Dragon's leg.

The wings pulled her in and she had to do what she could to provide healing for everyone close to her in that moment. It wasn't until the wings stopped that she did what she could to run a distance away. She needed to be far enough away to cast safely while near enough to reach them. But being too close to that dragon...

Already she could feel some bruising on her but she ignored that for the time being. There was not time to focus on it when the others needed her.

Kain isn’t about to let up for a moment, knowing that hesitation could mean death. It had cost him dearly last time, and it was this attack with the wings that had really done him in last time. That he’s still standing now is only thanks to the magic from the others. He has just enough pain… but also just enough health at the same time.

Aiming another series of whirling blows at the dragon, Kain continues to cut at its thick side. The sword occasionally bounces off those hard scales, but once in a while he gets a good, strong strike on it. Blood starts to seep out from the wounds he’s dealing. Good.

At least this time, the magic seems to have a bit more of an effect… a possible sign that they’re getting through to the dragon, finally wearing it down? Kain doesn’t dare to hope. The hex makes the dragon’s next vicious chomp of teeth miss wildly… a good thing, or he’d have surely had some literal mabari crunch to eat. This throws the dragon off just enough for James’ attack to also connect, similarly drawing blood.

The dragon is angry now, its rage growing as it again attempts to chomp whoever’s nearest, teeth snapping together viciously. It gives another wide sweep of its tail… and then… Then it takes to the sky, swooping upward rapidly.

“Maker damn it… She’s on the move!”

The dragon circles overhead for a while, raining fire down toward them. Only ranged weapons or magic can hit her while she's airborne, but she's starting to circle around toward another landing position some distance away.

Sam sees the attack before James yells out. Keeping up his spells doesn't allow him to get further away, but he and Interceptor are both at the very edge of the wing attack that they can dig in their heels to prevent themselves from getting swept up in the attack. With minor cuts and bruises from debris being tossed around of course.

When the wind dies down, Sam is quick to throw up another barrier around James, hoping to help against the thrashing the dragon was starting to do now that it was showing signs of being hurt. And then the beast is airborne. "Well shit..." It was bad enough on the ground, but at least there their fighters could hit her. While the dragon flies, Sam does take a few shots at her, but focuses mostly on intercepting the fire attacks with ice midair.

Seeing the dragon starting to make her way to land again, Sam takes that chance to regroup with the others with Interceptor right on his heels. "I can carry maybe two, but who needs a ride?" He doesn't give much explanation after that before there is a poof of black smoke surrounding him, and in his place a large Hart looking at them expectantly.

He doesn't make a habit of letting just anyone ride him, but they still had a long fight ahead of them and running to close the distance was going to leave them winded.

"Kain, come. I will keep you healed."

She might not be a fighter but at least she could keep track of someone who was. It was something of a specialty really. And the others could catch up and help to do more while they distracted the dragon for a time.

With a wave of her hand to the Reaver, she dashed towards the shapeshifter so she could get a ride. They needed to go now, something she understood from being around for hunts with the Avvar when they went after big game.

That's one of their tricks, of course, and what can make a dragon battle so wearying on even the toughest of fighters. Flying around, changing position... last time it had gotten so out of reach that Kain hadn't been able to follow... that and he'd been too injured at that point. But not now. Not this time. This time, they're going to keep up with it, and they're going to take it down.

"My thanks," he says as he turns to Kattrin, hurrying to join them. He knows he needs to pace himself, be ready for the next round of fighting. At the same time, he glances to see whether one of the others might need the ride more. "Let's go!" The good news, he thinks, is that the dragon might be wearing down more than it's letting on. Moving like it did is a sign it's trying to preserve its strength too.

The dragon, meanwhile, continues to circle above with its bursts of flame... finally coming to land in a spot on a small hill some distance away. It's in reach again once they get over there, at least...

There's only the slightest of a grunt from Sam as the two hurriedly mount before he's taking a moment to relocate the dragon without hitting anyone with his horns. As soon as he's orientated himself he's off, immediately going into a bounding gallop - hopefully his passengers have the mind to hold on tight considering this ride doesn't have a saddle or reins.

Like this it takes little to no time to reach the hill that the dragon has landed on. Taking into consideration that Kattrin probably doesn't want to be in melee, he slows enough for her to dismount safely at a decent range, but doesn't quite stop in case he needs to start running again.

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Dragon fight

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