Return of the Emblem Chapter Eleven: Unleash

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"If there's a dragon crazy enough to be firing off giant "I'MMA DRAGON' magics inside the anti-dragon nation, he's a crazy enough bastard that the only thing crazier would be going after him," Gar commented out loud with little care.

[Phoenix]

Call to Arms

Despite Raquel's reference to John and Sophia's deaths, Bert left to check on the situation anyway, her only warning being him actually telling her ahead of time. Even Gytha thought he'd lost it and said something to that effect as he left. The new pegasus rider from Weyland followed suit, though he flew much higher than Bert did. She wondered if he might get spotted by someone way up there.

Veronika pointed out that this was probably a suicide mission after Marella suggested going to help those people. Raquel was torn since a part of her believed that she might actually be able to make a difference this time around. She wasn't sure exactly what to expect by using her infused emblem energy on the dragon, but according to Hypnos, there was more than enough of it within her for her to use it during battle if she really needed to. Combining a few of her other battle options, such as warping allies and the like, she didn't think it would be a completely one sided confrontation if they did go and help, she just wasn't sure if they could win outright, and without any casualties. Shadow dragons were known for being exceedingly difficult to kill, though that wasn't what she was trying to accomplish in either case.

When Axel suggested swapping everyone's gear for rods and wingslayers, Raquel said, "I don't have enough of those to go around. I only keep a minimum of eight items of any given type since there's almost no chance they'll all get sold. I can't really carry a large variety and quantity of gear, even with the Dauntless." She paused to try and remember how many rods and slayers there actually were. She recalled ten of the former and four the latter. They could arm fourteen people for this maneuver at best, it seemed.

Then, toward the actual matter at hand, she said, "I need help here. We could be walking straight into an ursian nightmare. I might be able to use the emblem's energy that Hypnos gathered to help out a little, but aside from that, and the regular stuff I do, that's all I can contribute to this. I can't honestly ask everyone to take on a shadow dragon.

"I won't risk my life for you again, but I don't mind helping as well. Diversionary tactics only," Ayano quietly chimed in.

Neither Raquel nor Reign were expecting Ayano to volunteer even as a distraction, but having the dragon focused on an illusive target like her would certainly help their chances if it came to blows.

"The obvious thing to do here is to have anyone staying behind prepare in case the dragon shows up while the others go and try to actually deal with it. Keep the Dauntless here and out of sight while they run on ahead to confront this thing," Reign finally stated.

That made some sense to her, but Raquel feared that just the fact that she was thinking of going to help would force some 'obligated' individuals to come as well, even though they probably didn't want to. She wanted to help, quite badly, but felt as if getting involved would force a few hands within the group. She didn't think Robin or Gytha especially would want anything to do with this, and Veronika was reluctant as well. Gar's comment also got her doubting any course of action that led to fighting the dragon, yet again.

[Heroic 20+: The Black Reaper]

Shaun stayed down as the women instructed and silently prayed to Mercy for help, which was about the only thing he could do at that point. Greta meanwhile mulled over her options after Jamilla came to help her. Once she fired her shot at the dragon, she was almost completely helpless, but she didn't exactly have any leverage with her gun in hand to begin with. Every time the dragon was injured, it simply siphoned life force from her allies to heal itself. Attacking seemed pointless, because of that and fleeing seemed equally pointless unless they all split up. Still, there would probably be casualties.

"Gotta make sure Shaun gets out of this alive ... no matter what happens," she decided. That was when she noticed something like a black spec flying overhead, Eli. As her gaze moved to it, the dragon began to wonder what she was looking at. He didn't see anything right away when he glanced skyward since he was facing the wrong direction.

"I highly doubt that salvation is just going to rain down from the sky, human, heheheheh."

Amon finally reached the wagon, but was still at a loss for what to actually do about Schwartz. Greta hadn't said much directly to the dragon, and neither had Alphonse or Jamilla, so Amon decided that his best option was to get the dragon's attention off them and onto himself. "HEY!!!" Once the dragon looked his way, he said, "What's the point of this?! What are you getting out of attacking innocent people?!"

"No one is innocent. No one, and that isn't the point," Schwartz countered. "The point is ... that just about all of you are going to die, and the reasons don't matter. I'm here to end your lives and that's what I plan to do."

Hearing that sent Greta into a mild panic and she jumped up several times on the roof waving to the spec in the distance to try and get its attention. "We need help! Heeeeeey! Get help!"

Schwartz turned enough so that he could probably get a look at who Greta was calling up to. His eyesight was a lot better than hers and he could tell there was a pegasus rider scouting from a tremendous distance. "Interesting."

[Parrhesia]

Rook didn't like this at all... but he kept his reservations to himself. Marella was going, and that seemed final. All he'd do was make more enemies, and that was the last thing he needed.

"Right," he sighed. "Let's 'ave 'em."

Wilhelm decided that debate was the best form of attack. After all, he wasn't about to hurl his mace into the distance. "You trying to scare us? Fuck off, if I was scared of magic I'd be shitting myself over the gods. If you're gonna kill us, fucking try it, don't just sit there wanking over how big and brave you think you are. Nobody gives a shit about you, nobody gives a shit about your nihilistic crap, now come on and have a go because I'm fucking bored of you already. You want something 'interesting'? Let's have a fucking wager. Let's see what you're fucking made of... if you're so bloody great you shouldn't have to fly off like a coward. Let's see if you got what it takes tooth and nail." And maybe, he thought bitterly, his employers would have the sense to crawl away to safety while the dragon ate him.

[Snowy_One]

"Say it Raquel. Say the word and I will help." said Robin noticing Raquel's seeming hesitation. "My father raised me with honor and loyalty. I may not be perfect at them, but I try. If I hold back it is because you tell me to, but I would rather we do something and try than run. Even Urswine are to be treated with honor."

[Parrhesia]

Rook laughed at 'loyalty'. He wondered what kind of mercenary code condoned attempting to kill your comrades, and what perverted mind could twist that into honour.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"If there is an opportunity to negotiate, I will attempt to do so. We should only attack if the dragon strikes first- we won't have any chance of resolving this peacefully if we are the aggressors," she stressed to the group. "If it does come down to a battle, we may want to consider retreating...it will likely catch some of us but not all of us," she said with some difficulty. If this is an Imperial dragon I may be able to reason with them, if not...

Nadya

Nadya retreated further towards the back of the group after the explosion came. Damn fools, abandon the wagon and turn the other way, she thought to herself, though if people were so eager to kill themselves she figured she couldn't stop them.

Connor

Connor heard the explosion even through his helm and decided to remove it to get a better grasp of the situation. "What's going on?" he asked tentatively.

[Snike]

"Whatever you have is whatever we need. A show of force can't hurt things at this point, if the overgrown lizard has any regard for its' life," Axel responded sternly, after Raquel's explanation. "And regardless of what we do, we need to act now, while the dragon doesn't know we're here yet. Otherwise we risk getting caught off guard. If avoiding that means leading a few people myself to go deal with it, so be it. Everyone else has to be ready to fight and prepared to run, though."

[Mercakete]

When Norbert came to the clearing, he made sure to keep some foliage between himself and the scene before him. There was a wagon, a large...familiar-looking wyvern...a couple of crushed-looking horses still attached to said wagon and some people negotiating with a huge, black dragon. Well, not really negotiating, from the sounds of it. Wait a minute... The pegasus rider squinted as he peered through the brush. The one talking to the dragon wasn't the woman on the roof. There was someone else there... His eyes widened. That's where he'd seen that wyvern! What in Mercy's name are they doing here?!

Amon was the one talking with the dragon. It sounded like said dragon was wholly intent on killing-- wait, it could talk? That realization only stunned the Ursian for a moment before he stopped caring about that detail and began to brainstorm. He knew one obvious option was to hurry back to Raquel and report what he saw. This was a pretty dire circumstance, though, and sometimes it took the group a while to get moving. That was when he saw the dragon look up and heard the woman on the wagon calling up to the sky. She looked like she was trying to get someone's attention. Carefully, Norbert moved both Rizen and what green was around until he saw it: some black thing was in the sky. Looking closely, it, too, looked somewhat familiar... And then it hit him. Is that Lumi? Or...that other guy with a black pegasus? "By Wrath, what are you doing here?!" he whispered.

As frustrating as that was -- a black pegasus in a bright sky kind of stuck out -- an idea hit Norbert as to how to use that to his advantage. He hesitated at the plan for a moment, but then he remembered something Amon had told him back in Sanctuary. "I don't know you that well, but we're on the same side. If one of us is in trouble, we should all try to help, even if it's their fault in the first place." Blast it Amon, why'd you have to go and probably save my life back there? Sighing, Norbert dismounted Rizen and silently commanded her to stay hidden. She knew the gesture. Then, he walked out into the clearing.

"Hey, you! The big, ugly, stinking beast who can talk for some reason Truth only knows!" Norbert yelled at the dragon as he drew his maces, still walking up to the thing at a casual pace, "Don't you know dragons aren't welcome in Ursium? How about you leave these people alone?!" Come on, Lumi or other guy, hurry up and tell Raquel what's happening!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gytha wasn't sure what to do. It sounded like people were in trouble, but this was because of a dragon in Ursium. From her experience, Ursians tended to start the conflicts between themselves and dragons. "What if it's not th' dragon's fault? I think we should try talkin' t' it first," she voiced, agreeing with Veronika's plan.

Edited June 22, 2013 by Mercakete

[Parrhesia]

"Why? There ain't much to say."

[Mercakete]

"Could be that th' dragon was just defendin' its self. Ursians seem t' usualla be th' aggressors in conflicst b'tween th' two," Gytha explained, "'Course we'll fight it if it's hostile, but attackin' it just b'cause it's a dragon isn't realla fair."

[Parrhesia]

"If it wasn't attacking, it'd just fly off. Anyway, what idiot would attack a bloody dragon? Oh, that's right," he added, bitterly. "Us."

Edited June 22, 2013 by Furetchen

[Snike]

"The dragon in question definitely engaged the Ursians first, if it is who I think it is, but does that really matter?" Axel interjected, impatiently. "We need to move decisively to resolve this. There's no time for petty arguments like this. And for the love of Merz, don't shoot unless it shoots first."

Edited June 22, 2013 by Snike

[ReformBlade]

Helping the man to his feet and taking an ever so slightly relaxed stance, "Again, I don't know if we can..." It dawned on her that the man said Amon. Maybe he was the same one or maybe it's just a coincidence, but then again, it wouldn't hurt to make sure. "Amon... Amon you say? Was he super tall, goldish yellow hair?" She hoped it was the same man, but at the same time that meant some really serious shit was about to go down that she would have to step in and help out with. There was a blast but I don't give a fuck at this point.

[scorri]

"Sounds about right. From Sanctuary. Off on some mission. You know him? That'd be... something." Erion half chuckled and then grabbed at his head. "Ow. The ground here is harder than I expected..."

[Phoenix]

Daunts

Raquel didn't want to say the word. She'd feel partly responsible if Robin got hurt or killed if she did. "I can't ask you to fight a dragon for me. It's about as bad as what we're normally dealing with but this is different. We're not being forced into this necessarily."

"I get the distinct feeling we're already heavily involved in this," Reign said, thinking to the two pegasus riders who had left not long ago.

Before long Gytha and Rook had gotten into a bit of back and forth about the details of the situation. It hadn't occurred to Raquel that the dragon might be the one being attacked, but she doubted it since despite Ursium's clear anti-dragon stance, the scaled giants still decided to come over every so often. Biased from her upbringing or not, she was right about that much. She had no clue how Axel knew the dragon was the aggressor for certain, but it was a generally safe assumption in these parts.

Deciding to make some semblance of a final decision on the matter, Raquel got down from the Dauntless and said, "Okay, here's what we're going to do. We'll split into two teams. One will stay here and guard the Dauntless. You guys can use whatever you need, but put it all back when this is over, understand? The other team is going to go and try to ... resolve this somehow. I'm going with that team. If you want to stay here, stay here. If you want to come with me, come on. It's your choice, though. I'm not giving anyone any orders here." At least this way, she couldn't be blamed if something went horribly wrong.

"I'll go with the resolution team, I guess," Reign said a bit reluctantly. He'd had his fill of overwhelming odds, but he did feel somewhat obligated to go with her.

Shadrak finally stepped out of the Dauntless having just barely caught all of that. "I'm going too," he announced.

It was probably Obvious that Gabbie wasn't going anywhere.

Taunts

"Well, I've had enough. Enjoy oblivion, tough guy," Schwartz retorted as he held up his paw again. A mass of dark energy converged near the tip of his claw and began to form a small singularity.

<"Oh crap,"> Amon muttered. He wasn't sure what Wilhelm was trying to accomplish, but it might have been backfiring. Singularities were spells suited to taking out multiple targets at once. Unless they got to a safe distance, they were all going to get pulled into that thing and torn to shreds.

While it was charging, Bert made his way onto the scene and began taunting the dragon as well. Amon was speechless, but only for exactly one second. Then the most likely of responses came. "B-Bert?! What are you doing here?!"

"Dying with the rest of you, apparently," Scwhartz answered.

"Bert! Is Raquel here?!" He knew this wasn't the best time to inquire about such things, but it came out just the same.

[Eail]

A pegasus rider had appeared, a male on at that. Evidently Amon knew him which was a good thing. "Amon if you have anymore friends in the area now would be a great time for them to appear, we can't exactly take on a dragon on our own in the state we're in!"

____

Zach had been sleeping in the back of the wagon, but all of the commotion had caused him to wake up. Unable to actually get out through the front due to how many people were there he climbed through the roof. Hearing enough of the conversation to make his own conclusions "It has to be a rogue dragon or something, there's no way the Army would actually be this deep into Ursium with a dragon would there?"

____

Luka was far above the rest of the group, with how people were crowding around the front of the wagon he could tell there was trouble of some kind, for now he'd simply follow along, if they speed up he'd follow and dive down to actually be filled in on the situation.

[Afterglimmer]

"Wrath damn it, I knew I should have bought that horse back there...." Maris cursed to himself as he headed westward. He had been trying to get to Ursanctis on foot from Ursaea and now, after about four hours of traversing across unfriendly terrain, he was completely exhausted. Finding a nice, shaded area a little ways off the road, he lowered his hood and positioned himself against the tree.

"Maaaaaaan, if I knew it was going to be this difficult....." Maris continued to mutter to himself as he pulled out an apple he bought back in town from his bag. He took a bite and began to recall why he set out. He had heard that a man claiming to be an arcanist had been seen in Ursanctis. Given that Maris only knew one person who would openly call himself that, he figured it was his teacher, Edgar Malkov of Kirsanov.

"I can't believe he's actually in Ursium, let alone outside of his study..." Maris thought to himself as he pulled out the amulet Edgar had given him from under his cloak. "I got a LOT of questions for him once I meet him. The most prevalent bein-"

He never got to finish his thought, as it was suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion that sounded further westward.

"What in the hell.....?" Maris wondered aloud as he quickly put the apple back into his bag, hid the amulet under his cloak, and began running towards where the sound came from.

[Mercakete]

Well, that was good. Amon recognized him. It sounded like he'd conveyed the message he'd been trying to, too, since the Sancturan asked to confirm it. Like heck I'm giving a straight answer to that! "Oh hey, sure, they're just down the road! Dragon, why don't you just fly over there and crush them before they can help out?" This is a stupid, crazy risk on my part already and he already let the dragon know we know each other and have an ally named Raquel... Merz...

He wasn't sure how to respond as he kept advancing towards the dragon and the wagon, but eventually a way to answer Amon came to mind. "What kind of question is that?" he snapped. I hope he gets what I mean here. "You know I've been travelling alone for the past several months! Same company as always!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gytha wasn't sure which group to go with. It didn't sound like the Dauntless was going to have many if any guards at this rate and she didn't want to see another dragon cut down just for being a dragon. However, she also didn't trust that some people would attack without answering questions. Veronika'll go with 'em. I'm sure she'll be able t' handle that. "I'll stay with th' Dauntless."

Edited June 22, 2013 by Mercakete

[Parrhesia]

"You fucking chickenshit," said Wilhelm, calmly. "What's the matter, too fucking scared? You're fucking frightened, aren't you? Come on, mate, let's see what you're made of."

Rook glanced towards Marella. "C'mon, there's no point going out there and risking our lives," he muttered. "Let's just stay here... we should be considered lucky for being given the choice."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Ugh, Raquel felt the burning need to go get herself burned--or whatever crap dark dragons did. Gar really, really, really didn't want to be involved in this at all. But well, the likely outcome was probably some emblem thing, so he really should see that. "Much as my preference would be to just dash off in the opposite direction, I also feel the need to come watch whatever impending doom you're running into."

[ReformBlade]

"Yeah yeah, solid ground sucks, it's why I fly. Anyway, you just described an old friend there, and while I won't make guarantees, I'm thinking that just increased the chances of getting help by quite a bit..." She said with an almost annoyingly carefree tone, not letting the grim though of 'or at least a funeral and a burial for everyone if it's true' get through. "Anyway, I think I oughtta relay this to my employer, see how she feels about this." Mounting Hannah with all the speed and grace she could muster, Aneda maneuvered herself back towards Raquel, "Hey Raquel, two things apparently. One, there's apparently a big ass dragon up ahead which... from the look on people's faces seems to have been figured out and two, apparently, according to this guy, Amon is trying to help fight it off, or at least a guy with the same name, height and background as him."

[Toogee]

Eli watched the group while Norbert did his thing. His attention was quickly diverted, however, by the woman flailing her arms on top of the wagon. In addition, he spotted magic blasts forming an SOS code. With their pleas for help, combined with Norbert’s rather bold move, the new guy took the hint on what he needed to do. The veteran rider couldn't save those people alone, nor would he have to.

“Come Betty. With haste!”

Eli urged his steed to dive downward, this time in the opposite direction, back to the caravan. He landed on the road some distance from the wagon, galloping the rest of the way to come to a stop. The group had already gathered together, supposedly putting together a plan. It seemed like he showed up just in time.

“There are massive casualties ahead,” Eli interrupted, not bothering to dismount. “I can confirm that there is a large black dragon currently assaulting what appears to be a merchant caravan. I saw at least six survivors among them, including a young boy, and they request aid. Your other rider is down there confronting the beast, but I don’t know how long he’s going to hold that dragon off. If you guys were just any merchant group, I would suggest retreat. However, the professor tells me you are…more so. In any case, whatever you plan to do should be done rather quickly.”

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Jam also caught sight of the black speck in the sign and joined Greta in asking for help. With her light magic, she shot bright flashed into the sky in a specific pattern. That pattern was one of the first things she learned to do with magic: a SOS code; the dancer hoped it was internationally recognized. Jam didn't get time to see if it worked, as Wilhelm shouted at the dragon. His distraction took the beast’s attention off of them; the dancer had new found respect for the warrior. Jam grabbed Greta’s shoulder just as the dragon began charging his spell.

“We need to run,” she pleaded, hoping to honor Wilhelm’s kamikaze distraction by fleeing. Jam then looked to the back of the wagon to see Alphy, Amon, and a new guy gathered close by. She immediately grabbed Shaun by the arm and told him the same.

“Run to Alphy,” Jam said to Shawn. “Lead the way, we’re right behind you!”

Jam wasn’t sure how safe they would be with the others, but likely much safer than in the blast radius of that spell. She waved Greta forward as the dancer followed the boy (hopefully) to the ground. She wasn’t going to leave until they were off, however.

Edited June 23, 2013 by Toogee

[Snowy_One]

"I will go where you tell me to Raquel, though I would prefer to be helping people out if possible. However, I would suggest that Tia go with you. If she stays and ends up wanting to go with you, she showed she is willing to bring the whole Dauntless with her and a girl as crazy as her may find a way to do it as well. Plus, if Rook is staying here, it would probably be better to keep her and Rook separate without someone around to play peacemaker." said Robin. Right as she finished, Tia popped out of the Dauntless, jumping out onto the ground. She quickly looked to Raquel, tome in hand, as she smiled.

"Fighting a dragon sounds awesome! I don't really have much to learn from it, but getting to work on a team and practice a bit would be useful. Plus, if it breaths fire, you'll want me there, if only to prevent a forest fire. I promise not to get directly involved this time if you tell me not to, I'll just stick to using my mist to bolster people, but take me along with you no matter what. If a fire starts, there might not be a Dauntless to return to."

[scorri]

Marella

"I'm going Rook. There are people in danger. What if it were you and it were Wilhelm or someone here instead of us? I... I know magic isn't your favorite. So if you don't want to go because of that, don't worry. But... I'm going."

Lumi

"Nope. Not going anywhere near a dragon with Star. I'm sorry, but that's insane and I'm not doing it. I'll stay here."

Erion

As the pegasus rider rode of towards the rest of the group, Erion slowly dusted himself off. Straightening his bandana, he slowly made his way over to the group, hoping that they would have decided to go and help the rest of his comrades by the time he got there.

[Parrhesia]

Rook breathed deeply, mulling over his options. "Right," he said at last. "I don't like this, but... if you're going, I have your back."