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

POST-DRAGON TAVERN VISIT | OTA

[faderifting]

Because how better to wash off the blood and patch up your wounds than with liquor and endless retellings of your glorious new stories?

[make_my_mark]

There was a new cut on her cheek, and her knuckles were raw, her palms scratched. There was blood on her armor. But she was alive, and her mind was still racing. With lingering adrenaline, with the wonder of what she'd just done.

She'd fought a dragon.

She had won.

A part of her was sad - guilty, that it had come to that. That something that... miraculous was now gone, but she recognized what it had to be done, and that this wasn't her world, they weren't her rules. (And even in her world, there were times difficult choices needed to be made.) And she couldn't deny that it was exhilarating.

And fascinating.

Sitting by the fire, light playing across her strange armor, she turned a piece of the beast's skin over in her hands. A small cutting, but whole and real. Tangible proof.

She smiled.

figured I’d toss him at her since they were teamed up!

[dragoon_pride]

It really is quite a feat, battling a dragon and taking it down. Kain, for all his enthusiasm over fighting them, also finds himself pretty well worn out afterward. He’s not in the best of shape, but if he can walk and stay upright, he intends to keep doing so for now. Collapsing can wait for later.

“That was some battle,” he says, approaching Lara, since she’d been one of his teammates and all. One who’d fought quite well, from what he’d seen. “Had you ever fought a dragon before this one?”

[make_my_mark]

She couldn't help a laugh, low and dusky, as she looked up, long hair sliding over the collar of her armor with the shake of her head.

"No," she said.

It was even funnier considering the things she had faced. How much crazier was a dragon really, compared to Himiko and her Stormguard. To the Deathless?

It felt stranger, more impossible somehow, even if it really wasn't.

"That was definitely my first dragon." She looked him over, replaying the battle back, recalling the sight of him high above - flying. "...Yours?"

[dragoon_pride]

Kain now takes a moment to observe the claw that he'd taken, holding it up. It's like holding a piece of the world he knows, a deeply familiar object to him. That's good, that's important, but it also makes him almost feel more homesick than he'd ever have expected. He feels this huge swell of pride in himself, in showing what the dragoons are truly capable of.

Then he glances over to her. "Not my first ever, but my first in this world... They're just as much of a challenge here, though. It really did take all of our combined strength to defeat it."

[make_my_mark]

Her eyebrows went up.

"You're a Rifter?" she asked. She had wondered, but everything was still new enough, strange enough, that she didn't feel comfortable guessing. There was magic here.

Her gloves were still off, after checking the small wounds, and she turned her palm out toward him.

"Me too. Though I take it, not from the same place."

[dragoon_pride]

Kain can understand that, sometimes he has trouble distinguishing the rifters from natives, himself. "I am. The world I come from... there are some things similar to here, such as magic and dragons... but there's a lot that differs, too."

He shows his palm as well, the mark there just the same as hers. He's always been interested in talking with other rifters, wondering what they might have in common. But it seems things are more different than he'd realized.

"What's your world like?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Have a round on me, everyone!"

This tavern still doesn't match up to the Herald's Rest, under normal circumstances, but right now it's Korrin's favorite place. Not having entered it more than a handful of times since arriving, the Vashoth mage claims a table and doesn't intend to leave it for some time. Celebrations deserve nothing less, after all, and she'd earned this one.

Korrin's stark white hair is a mess, long since freed from its bun, patches of blood -not hers- on her armor, and her cheeks still bright from the unholy cold that high dragon kept spewing. It's all worth it, though. That's the second high dragon she was able to help take down with a group, and it was just as epic and glorious as the first time.

So Korrin will make sure her teammates are properly spoiled as they recount their favorite parts of the battle. And of course she'll want to hear about the other dragon battles, so if you participated at all, expect the grinning Vashoth mage to wave you down and demand details. This is the night for it, don't hold back.

[dragoon_pride]

Approaching, Kain half fears what sort of unpleasant secrets she might make him spill this time around, but really, he doesn’t think they’ll get into one of those drinking games this time. Instead, it’s all about the victories they’ve all had. He looks worse for wear himself, he definitely will need armor repairs not to mention Kain-repairs with plenty of healing, but all of that can wait.

“I take it you defeated your dragon as well.” He can’t help it, he does something truly rare and weird: he grins right at her. “An exhilarating task, wasn’t it?”

[gatheringstorm]

Not thinking of drinking games this time, Korrin grins right back. She appreciates that rare and amazing sight, which is all the more reason not to call attention to it. Maybe it will even last the night. And she won't fret or push potions on him, unless he's collapsing. Korrin's not here to babysit anyone tonight, just have a good time.

"Hell yes. I got to test my Knight-Enchanter abilities, and they held up against that beast. What better test is there? I take it you took a souvenir, too? A claw or scales or something?"

[dragoon_pride]

Good, no nagging, he's glad for that. Though he's definitely not at one hundred percent, he's in a state he can deal with, patching up wounds can come later. He's more of a mood to unwind and bask in the victory.

"Of course, a few of each... there was more than enough to go around." He holds up the claw he's been carrying, feeling it's almost a talisman of victory at this point. "I got to prove my worth as a rifter, so it seems we both fared well in that respect. I'll be curious to see your new powers someday..."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin raises a tankard upon seeing that claw, heartily approving. "Excellent. And good; dragon scales and dragon bone make for the highest grade armor when crafted. Plus, they look badass. You ought to have a backup set made, for those times when that one gets dented all to hell."

Hey, it happens. And blacksmiths need time to repair armor, hence why Korrin herself has more than one set. "You haven't? I gotta fix that, then--though not here, the tavern's far too crowded to show off. Later, outside; remind me."

[make_my_mark]

Somewhere over the course, she's been drawn into the talk. Into the recounts and the laughter. The warmth. The group.

And for a moment, she was just a woman with a story. In a bar like any other. With people who might be friends.

"I don't even know where to begin," she laughed as Korrin waved her down. "It was - amazing."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin laughs at that, still very much high on their victory against incredible odds. Who wouldn't be? "It was, wasn't it? I've only done that once before, and when I did before, it was with a much larger group. This was far more of a challenge...and well worth it, even if it feels like my face will never be warm again. No one fell but the dragons, right? Amazing. Maryden -that bard in Skyhold- will doubtless compose a song about this."

[make_my_mark]

"You've done this before?" Lara echoed, half-disbelief, half-awe. "Are they so common here, then?"

It was so remarkable. The differences in the very similarities.

"They're just a story where I'm from. Make-believe, and pretend."

(...But what if they weren't? What if maybe they had existed once? What if that's why there were stories? What if this Fade.... Her mind turned a mile a minute, both dizzying and exhilarating.)

[gatheringstorm]

She shakes her head at the question, quick to reassure. "No, no. Not at all. It used to be that they were thought extinct; too many enthusiastic dragon-hunters, I guess. But they've made a comeback; that's why this age is called the Dragon Age. At the end of the last one, they popped back up from Void knows where."

Taking a sip, she raises an eyebrow at mention of Lara's world, thoughtful. "Really, no basis in fact? Huh. I wonder, if they'd remained extinct, if we'd end up thinking the same way about them in a few centuries."

[wontforgetyou]

A dragon. He'd fought a dragon. Even with having what other people had said was a rather vivid imagination, he'd never once in his wildest dreams imagined that he'd actually have wound up on a battleground and facing down the biggest beastie he'd ever seen. It all seemed a bit unreal, except for the part where everything in him ached. Not the same sort of ache that came after closing a rift, but it had been one heck of a fight all the same. Some drinks seemed like a very good idea right about now.

"Aye, think we could all use a drink after that! You saw the size of that thing. Do all the dragons around here get as big as that?"

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin grins and claps a hand on Jamie's shoulder probably less gently than usual, her enthusiasm and dwindling sobriety taking a toll in that area. "I've only fought one other -a fire-breather- but yes, it was around that size. High dragons are nothing to sneeze at, that's for sure. But you held your own exceptionally well; I've seen experienced Thedosian mercenaries unable or unwilling to face one for long. That you never it before up to this point...well, you could've fooled me. Well done."

[wontforgetyou]

Maybe it's a bit less gentle of a clap than normal, but Jamie hardly notices, the fact that he's leaning up against the wall meaning the gesture doesn't even really stagger him - although it might have, if he hadn't had that to act as a sort of a buffer. Even if it had, though, it wouldn't have mattered, not in the face of a compliment like that. That part of things gets him to straighten up just a little bit, and he turns a pleased smile Korrin's way.

"Well, I have fought some great beasties before. Just not dragons. Although I've got to admit that it wasn't easy. If Cassandra hadn't taunted it when she did I would've been dead for sure. Think you were pretty impressive as well, mind. That new weapon of yours was something to see!"

[gatheringstorm]

Her grin lingers, pleased that someone else appreciated her delving into the Knight-Enchanter path. "Isn't it? I'm still marveling at how well it cuts back the defenses, though I'm still no warrior. You won't believe how long Madame Vivienne made me drill over and over again with that, but hard work pays off. And longer-lasting barriers are nothing to sneeze at."

She looks him over, thoughtful. "You know, you should show off your new status as dragonslayer. We could make a nice coat out of the dragonhide that we brought back."

[aintwejust]

"This is your fault." He's not sure HOW but- dragons, Korrin, it's the same crazy bullshit that always happened around her so. Her fault. He slumps down next to her, flexing his hand, bumping their shoulders together because-

Well after getting knocked around like that a man wants to feel solid. Korrin's solid. "I blame you."

[gatheringstorm]

It's the curse of joining the Valo-Kas; every member attracts crazy bullshit with alarming regularity. But Korrin just laughs, bumping back against his shoulder with her own. She doesn't try to knock him over, though given her euphoria and less-than-sober state, she's not as careful as usual.

"Yes, all my fault. I made you fight the bad dragon, fear my evil ways. So tell me everything, Mal. I have to know about the one you fought; you took a souvenir too, right? We'll make Asher so jealous."

[aintwejust]

"You got match'n horns. You and your sort call 'em in with your wily, horny ways." Ale. Ale's good. Ale that wasn't half sloshed over his pint would be better but- bump a Vashoth, get the horns. Or. Shoulder. He moped- no, mopped, at the mess before draining the rest. "Fire. So much fire. And little ones. Biting, screaming little ones."

[gatheringstorm]

Eh, it's a mess that she can repay him for in a moment. Korrin did just say she was buying people a round, after all. That includes one of her favorite people. Gesturing to the bar for a refill, she works to drain hers as well in anticipation of it. "Oh, so you were stuck with that one--that was in the far corner, right? And ugh, I hate having to fight dragonlings at the same time. That's far too much bullshit to put up with at once. It's almost as bad as that awful shriek they all make."

[dragoon_pride]

Kain is exhausted, and that’s putting it lightly. He’d put everything into that battle, pushed himself in a way he hasn’t yet done here in this world. It made him feel like old times. Made him feel… alive. He’s also covered in a good share of bruises and cuts and frosted-over patches where the dragon’s frosty breath got him. There are dents on his armor. He may be limping a bit, and holding his off hand (right) a little funny. But they’d done it and that was reason enough to celebrate.

He grabs a drink and downs it at once with a satisfied sigh afterward. Then slams it down, clearly up for more. “I’d say this proves the worth of us rifters.” Quite a few of them had been out there battling the dragons after all.