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

[gatheringstorm]

Jamie's cry gets Korrin's attention, and she charges back into range to renew Barrier for everyone else, her own still holding strong. Not about to have Cassandra face the beast alone, however skilled she is, Korrin whips out her spirit blade again, attacking it from another angle so that it's forced to divide its attention.

Merrick's blow gets a smirk out of her, though not for long as the shriek pierces her ears. It's not quite as bad as the one used to summon dragonlings, but she nonetheless stumbles before regaining her footing. In retaliation, she renews her assault, her glowing blade slicing into its flesh.

[wontforgetyou]

He'll be grateful for a long time to come for Cassandra's save. That distraction is just enough to allow him the chance to get away, and he runs as fast as he can across the ice away from her. That's a good thing as well, because when the shriek rips through the air he winds up stumbling, catching the wrong bit of an edge of ice and tumbling to the ground. If he hadn't been as far away as he was or if the dragon's attention hadn't been taken up by the others, it'd be a far different story.

He's not about to let a wee tumble stop him, though, and he pushes himself back up to his feet, whirling about once he's regained his footing. The only problem is that he had to drop the bow in order to avoid it breaking during the fall, and for the moment the dragon is between him and it. Until he can get back to retrieve it, he opts to shift to his more usual style of fighting, pulling his sword from a sheath on his back and wrapping both hands around the hilt before throwing himself back into the fray.

[stabsbooks]

Merrick's poisoned strike pains and angers the dragon, and it roars in indignation, tail whipping furiously. Cassandra takes the opportunity to attack, striking concurrently with Korrin and pulling out her blade to immediately swing again. With Korrin's barrier protecting her and the rest of the team keeping the dragon from focusing the entirety of its attention on her, there is little that can stop her. She pushes forward, trusting her shield and the barrier to keep her from major injury as she does as much damage to the dragon as possible.

[dalishious]

Cassandra is doing a lot of damage, and the dragon appears to have had enough. It screeches again, then spreads its wings to take to the air.

Merrick manages to throw a knife at the beast before it gets too high up, and then leaps to the side to avoid an icy blast. He moves like a dart, seizing Jamie's bow up off the ground and tossing it to him.

"Korrin, can you hit it?" he shouts.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin is about to set another Immolate spell to trigger beneath the dragon when it takes off and ruins her plan. Scowling up at the beast, she tucks her spirit blade hilt back, leaping back before that icy blast can freeze her in place. Mobility is more important now than ever.

"Yes! We'll wear it down!" Between her and Jamie, hopefully that won't take too long. She spins her staff and assaults the dragon continuously from below. If it focuses on her, fine. Her barrier will hold, and she'll wear it down into landing for Merrick and Cassandra's sake.

[wontforgetyou]

Merrick gets a brief but genuine nod of thanks as he scoops up his bow with one hand, sheathing the sword with the other before moving out to range again and pulling another arrow from its quiver. With his own barrier in place, he just has to keep moving and shooting - and now that he's more used to the terrain it's easier to keep ahead of any retaliation from the dragon.

The blasts of magic from Korrin are more potent than his own arrows, so it's entirely likely it'll choose to focus on her instead of him for the moment, but each shot that lands is another one that will help wear the dragon down, and the more of them he can get off, the better the chance it'll land again and let Cassandra and Merrick get back into the fight. So he doesn't say anything, simply focuses on firing and moving and firing again. They'll sort this dragon out yet.

[stabsbooks]

Cassandra scowls furiously as the dragon takes to the air and leaves her unable to attack. It circles above them, blasting freezing ice - she raises her shield to protect herself, and curses when she hears it crack. Not entirely, not enough to make it worthless, but enough that another good swing could break it in two.

She watches tensely as Jamie shoots the dragon and Korrin blasts it with spells. The dragon is growing tired, she thinks, and it isn't long before it lands again, its attention, as Jamie had predicted, on Korrin and her spells.

She runs forward as the dragon lands, her shield still firmly in hand. If it is cracked and ruined completely by another blow from the dragon, so be it; better than the dragon striking Cassandra herself. She cries out again as she gets close, trying to draw the beast's attention from the mage and to herself.

She was right, she sees suddenly as the dragon roars and swings its head around. It is tired, and it is wounded, and it is vulnerable. They can end this now.

"Barrier!" she calls to Korrin. "Jamie, aim for the neck! Try to stun it!" She meets Merrick's eyes. "Now is our chance! Do not hold back!"