that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar

[faderifting]

WHO: Dragon-slayers
WHAT: The three Inquisition teams face their dragony foes
WHEN: Guardian 28
WHERE: Emprise du Lion
NOTES: Violence, gore, etc. This log contains closed threads for the 12 characters who were assigned slots on the dragon-fighting quest. Each team has an info pack-type starter about its dragon below. From here it is up to you to coordinate OOCly and decide how you want things to go down, and to NPC the dragon as needed. It also has an open thread for post-dragon-slaying tavern boasting.

By the end of Guardian Judicael's Crossing is repaired, at least enough to send Inquisition agents across on foot. But there is another obstacle preventing them from reestablishing a link between Sahrnia and the outside world: three high dragons have taken up residence across the bridge in an area called the Pools of the Sun. Here, the only road out through the mountains winds between rocky hills, ruins, and statuary. The remains of three structures dominate the landscape, arenas commissioned by Orlesian nobility in ages past.

Each of the teams has been assigned a dragon, and given as much information about it as the Inquisition has been able to gather from a few cautious scouting missions. This consists of where it sleeps and its primary method of attack. Though Inquisition resources are not great, they have had mages working overtime preparing at least basic protections against the dragons' elemental magic. While not enough to prevent injury altogether, they do significantly increase chances of escaping without dire casualties. They have also been provided with a small stock of healing and lyrium potions.

The three teams have been chosen from among the most-suited of the volunteers, and are dispatched across the river together. They split off on arrival, each making their way to the dragon's location and, at a roughly simultaneous moment, beginning the attack.

Comments

HIGHLAND RAVAGER | Iron Bull, Lexa, Mal, Merrill

[faderifting]

Towering over everything else on this side of Judicael's Crossing, Leontine's Ring stands four stories high and its floor drops several stories more into the mountainside. At the base of this rock-ringed pit sleeps the Highland Ravager, dull in color but marked by massive curving horns jutting out from each side of its head. Its snores can be heard echoing even before the team finds the entrance, a rough tunnel through the stone foundations, marked by the savaged corpses of the dragon's prey. Its lair is a rough circle, enclosed on all sides by high walls of stone and then the four tiers of Orlesian arches. It provides no cover, no high ground, and only the one avenue for entry or escape.

When woken, the Ravager will prove itself a formidable foe. Despite the relatively small space in its lair it is quick on its feet, turning and jumping and thrashing at those about it with a whip-like tail. It is an arrogant beast, confident of its ability to fight off aggressors and so remaining on the ground, leaping and spinning to dodge and attack, dealing additional damage by drawing enemies in with powerful flaps of its leathery wings and rearing onto its hind legs, landing hard enough to shake the ground and crush anyone slow enough to be caught beneath its feet. Only in the last moments is it likely to take flight, if at all.

Unlike the other two dragons in the region the Highland Ravager breathes fire instead of ice, the blasts of flame turning its throat to a glowing orange furnace just before it unleashes them at an enemy. It can spit fireballs at enemies across some distance, or bellow a consistent blast of flame that will burn anyone caught near enough even with the fire-resistant materials and magics the Inquisition has scrounged up for the team. Its mastery of fire means that the beast is vulnerable to cold magic.

Dragonlings reside nearby and will come to the Highland Ravager's aid, distracting party members with smaller fireballs and viciously sharp teeth. Roughly the size of a deer, they are easier to dispatch than the Ravager, but can do significant damage if ignored.

[qunari]

About damn time.

The creature is as monstrous as it is beautiful, savage and glorious. He always feels something in his blood stirring whenever he encounters a dragon...though that's not to say he isn't absolutely willing to kill the thing stone dead.

Order out of chaos. That's the way the world works. Sometimes it's just a little more fun than others.

Lingering just out of sight, Bull glances back to the rest of the team. His fingers tap eagerly against the leather wrappings of his axe. "We got a plan? Quarters are going to be pretty close in there."

[chainlightning]

It's sleeping.

Merrill almost feels bad, for preparing to charge in and attack a sleeping dragon -- but it is a dragon. She didn't get a good enough look to tell if this was one of the two that attacked the camp, but she knows that, if given half a chance, it would do so again and again. She knows that the civilians of the area cannot stand up to a high dragon, let alone three; Kirkwall itself was lucky that the dragon in the Bone Pit had not ventured further.

Ir abelas, she thinks, even as she knows it has to be done.

Out of the four of them, she only recognizes Lexa, but that doesn't matter. The qunari is- extremely large, but seems more friendly than those she'd encountered in Kirkwall, and at least isn't the first qunari she's met since joining the Inquisition. He's also the one that speaks first, and Merrill lightly taps on her staff for a moment, thinking.

"I can enchant your weapons, give them a bit of a boost, and use magic for walls and barriers. Otherwise... I can cast a spell on it while it's sleeping that will hopefully help confuse it when it wakes up." Horror and Despair, and Merrill is specifically leaving out that she will really be effecting the mind of the dragon, making it see things that aren't there and attacking its mind directly. The Entropy school isn't necessarily blood magic, but it still can make people nervous.

[aintwejust]

"Last time I did a dragon I did it with a trebuchet from 'bout half a mile away. Unless one o'you is hid'n a seige weapon in your robes, best I can figure is hitt'n the joints around the wings hard 'fore it gets it into it's head to start fly'n. It gets the high ground? We're fucked." A beat, then to Merrill. "If you'll pardon the say'n."

Jayne's already het up and wound up, quiet and glowering deper into the cave. It's gonna get complicated right quick but the offer of enchantment? That perks man and Mabari right up. "Got anything that'll make cuts cut deeper or him move quicker?"

[heda]

Lexa has been almost entirely silent so far, content to observe her new companions and their surroundings. New-ish, that is: she recognizes Merrill, and acknowledges it with a brief moment of eye contact and an even briefer suggestion of a nod. Her armor is mostly nondescript leather, light for a warrior, but then so is she. The sword she draws now is a slightly different story, a short everite blade with a slight curve and a wicked edge, one of two worn sheathed across her back. She spins it in her grip as she takes in the sleeping dragon and its lair, and casts a look toward Mal that suggests she isn't sure whether he's kidding about the trebuchet and probably disapproves regardless.

"Since it is sleeping we should first try to blind it. Confusion might buy us more time to get away from the head once it wakes. Then wing joints," she acknowledges Mal with a less-sideways look here, "and the backs of its knees. If we immobilize it it will be easier to avoid the fire." She looks around between the other three, waiting to see their response, though there is a note in her voice (unavoidable, despite her effort) that hints she is used to giving commands, not suggestions.

[qunari]

"High ground's not going to be an issue. Look." Bull nods to the towering walls of the arena, crumbling in places where the dragon has obviously dug in with claws. "It can come and go, but if it gets high enough to fly, it's not going to be able to get at us. And she's gonna want to get at us. Trouble's going to be not letting her corner anyone."

Still, the plan seems to be coming together. Bull rolls his shoulders, shaking the stiffness from his own joints before nodding. "I'll keep her on me. You keep on her flank, and watch that tail, we'll be alright. And if you don't have any way of blinding her..."

Bull smirks and runs a thumb over his eyepatch. "More than one way to skin a dragon."

[chainlightning]

It's the voice with the smirk that makes her realize no, she recognizes the qunari, too -- but there's no time for that now. There's a confused blink at Mal when he asks her to pardon the saying (it's okay Mal, she hangs out with Varric), but then there is more strategizing and questions about her magic.

"I have a spell that will make our blows hit harder, yes! And I can't make your mabari much faster-" though she would certainly like to pet him "-but I can at least give him a magical barrier, too. And I can- well, it may not blind the dragon exactly, but it will make it harder for her to see." Partial, if not total; misdirection more than just complete darkness.

Staff in hand, Merrill draws on her power and calls forth the promised barriers and elementally enchanted weapons for each of them; even Jayne will find that his teeth and claws have a bit of a magical kick to them now. If there is no further strategizing to be had, she'll move forward with a Misdirection Hex and then a Horror spell.

[aintwejust]

"Any of the li'l ones show up like they tend to, Jayne an' me can keep em off the rest of you. If not we'll work on hamstring'n and distraction. Ain't the first time we played bait." Probably wouldn't be the last one neither. Still- Jayne sits pretty and Mal does much the same, blinking a little at the tingly feeling magic always gives him.

Jayne, gentledog he is, snorts. Quiet like.

Last thing they need is to wake up big ugly before they're ready.

Then? It's on. Mal and Jayne make good, keep'n to the damn things joints, Jayne swip'n and bit'n, Mal find'n squishy bits to cut or savage with his spear-

Least till the li'l ones start shriek'n and piling in like a hoarde. Then? It's keep'n them off the rest.

[heda]

Lexa's agreement comes as a brisk nod, and she waits for Merrill to work her magic, flipping the blade in her gloved grip and slicing through the air once to see if it feels different. It doesn't really, and so after casting a brief look at the others in case there are last-minute thoughts, she advances.

The dragon continues snoring as they approach, reasonably stealthy despite their unsubtle plan. Lexa jogs, soft-footed across the frozen ground, picking up speed as she nears the dragon's head. Three things happen at once: she lifts her blade to drive into the creature's eye, that eye slides open, and Merrill's spell kicks in. The dragon moves, faster than anyone would expect for a beast so large, tossing its head with a bellow of confusion. It's too distracted by the spell to attack deliberately, but Lexa still has to dodge a sweep of the horns that happens to come her way, and her blade slides through the rough flesh of the dragon's nose instead of into its eye. She dodges back, circling around to the flank as the ground shakes with the force of the dragon's angry awakening.

It bellows and rears, wheeling its head and blasting fire, but fire directed (for now) at illusory foes instead of the real ones. Though distressed and uncoordinated it is still deadly, tail whipping as it turns this way and that, heavy limbs stamping the ground as its cries bring a handful of dragonlings running.

[qunari]

The dragon isn't the only one roaring.

Bull is charging in headfirst, making no bones about his presence in the ring. Anything that comes in is going to hear him as he hefts his axe, swinging hard at the dragon's legs and wheeling out of the way when the great beast takes a step and pivots. It's exhilarating, dancing around the movement of the dragon as it tries to shake the hex off, though it's moving too quickly just now to take a swipe at its underbelly.

Still, the Qunari is definitely grinning as he swings, striking hard enough to earn a stamp of the dragon's foot as it attempts to ground itself.

[chainlightning]

Four charge forward and one hangs back, Merrill perfectly content not to run up to the dragon and hit it with her staff, thank you very much. Besides, she's not done; blue runes spring up on the ground around her and near the dragon, the step of any unfriendly claws enough to trigger them into an explosion of ice. A particularly fast dragonling is the first victim of the runes, and their onslaught has more ice cast from Merrill's staff, sprouting up out of the ground to form walls. Where it doesn't freeze the dragonlings solid, it at least slows them down.

Sucking in a breath, Merrill shrieks slightly as a blast of fire comes too close, scrambling to avoid flames. More ice runes are triggered as dragonlings continue to rush, Merrill trying to get out of the way of both the angry horde and the fire without ending up against the wall or under the dragon. It's tight, impeded by her own walls of ice, and she ends up at one point swinging and whacking a dragonling right across the nose with her staff when it gets too close to biting her ankles.

[aintwejust]

Right, mind the mage. Mal barks out a sharp command and Jane doubles back, clearing a wide swath around Merrill to give her more room to work, hauling them away by sharp bites to the jaw, the tail, the throat. Massive teeth snap shut on the damn things and Jayne either tosses them away like ragdolls or gets 'em by the tail and starts dragging. Long as she needs him, Jayne'll be her cover, dancing around fire and ice to keep her back clear.

Mal, on his lonesome in the swarm, makes do. Cuts and thrusts through the mess, teeth grit against the shrieks, the bellowing- and the roaring qunari. Damn if Bull ain't liv'n up to the name more than a little.

Spells hold and steel works fine- Mal skittering back from an errant flail of a wing with a streak of Orlesian swearing. Too close for comfort between the little teeth and the big one- but keep'n the little ones of their big ones is his job. That's the line he said he'd hold, so he's gonna damn well hold it. One seems fit to come up on Lexa and he grunts, flipping his spear up in his hand and hurling it. Spear flies straight, aim's true, pins that sucker to the stone by the tail.

...And now he's down a spear. Shit.