Return of the Emblem Chapter Eleven: Unleash

[Afterglimmer]

Maris retreated back into his hiding place as new faces began to flock towards the wreckage. Taking a deep breath, he began to go over what he had overheard in order to figure out what had transpired earlier. Apparently, the caravan had been attacked by a dragon and had almost wiped out the original group. Seeing as the dragon was not in view, it was most likely driven off by something or someone. But something didn't seem right. What was a dragon doing all the way in Ursium? If there was a dragon, it would have most likely be associated with the Neviskotian military. However, to his knowledge, the Neviskotian army wouldn't attack a merchant caravan just for kicks. Something didn't seem right...

Suddenly, Maris received a rude awakening in the form of a scream. Looking back at scene, it seemed that act two of this cruel play had just started as he saw the kid fall over in pain with an arrow in his chest. "You have got to be kidding me...." Maris muttered grimly as he scanned the trees for the source of the arrow. As he searched for the assassin, he heard someone call for a ceasefire behind him. "Yeah, like that is going to get them to stop...," he thought to himself as he began to form a dark sphere in preparation for a fight.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Mr. Raven

[-Cynthia-]

Nobody appears to have been shot yet, though whether that is due to my words or some other factor one cannot say. Then, somebody tried to interfere and screw up the plan as they usually did, charging towards her and calling her an idiot.

"Stand down!" she ordered Marella, turning around. She figured she could evade other woman if needed- she wasn't the fastest combatant in their group- but she would really rather not have to while negotiating a truce.

Edited June 27, 2013 by -Cynthia-

[scorri]

Marella slowed down as she approached the other woman. "Stand down? Someone got shot, and there's a dragon! What do you think is going to happen? Do you want to die?"

Edited June 27, 2013 by scorri

[-Cynthia-]

"We cannot outrun a shadow dragon and fighting it would be suicide. Words are our only option left," Veronika responded, attempting to stay calm, hands still high in the air. Where is this dragon anyway? I doubt whatever Amon's group had to throw at it scared it off- the power of shadow dragons is legendary... she thought apprehensively.

[scorri]

"So you decide to just make yourself a target for anyone to shoot at without having anyone to at least protect you? You're our second in command, remember? You can't just let yourself stand here and get shot! Now will. you. please. get. down."

[Mercakete]

Gytha gave the healer some space, though remained vigilant. Now, however, she was uncertain of how to handle the situation. If an enemy showed up, before she would have shot, ducked down and reloaded in order to defend the nearby injured. However, Veronika was trying to settle the situation with words. Considering how hostile these people seemed to be -- the ones they were attacking certainly didn't seem very able to defend themselves -- there was only a 50/50 chance they'd heed Veronika. If they were willing to stop attacking, Gytha knew it would be better to stand down herself. However, this left an opening for the other possibility: that they'd take advantage of their hesitation and do even more damage.

These people don't seem too interested in peace... Maybe Veronika's father's position will be enough... She kept her eyes peeled for snipers as she frowned at her next thought. Not sure how effective th' child o' an officer is, though. It helped back in Sanctuary, but...

What? Norbert's attention was drawn to the argument transpiring between Marella and Veronika. Even after all that time they'd been travelling together, he never would have guessed that Veronika was the daughter of a Neviskotian brigadier general. The revelation made his stomach twist. Now that he thought about it, that was probably where she got that superior bearing. The shock quickly faded into a confused, disgusted feeling. Even though the situation within the group hadn't changed, he felt betrayed. He'd been beginning to grow a semblance of respect for the red-haired woman, but she was clearly allied with Neviskotia, which was the nation that he'd grown up to see as nothing but enemies. Sure he didn't mind some Neviskotians, but ones who supported the invasion of Ursium he detested. Those dragon-loving curs... She's one of them?! Has she been trying to get deeper into Ursium to sabotage us? His thoughts turned to his sisters in the military and his rage began to boil. He felt like he had to try to help their chances of survival how he could and here was one of those who were assisting in their destruction.

"So that's it, huh?!" Norbert angrily called over to Veronika, maces ready. He didn't actually advance from where he stood, though he did fall into a combat-ready stance. "Is that why you came to Ursium?! Because daddy sent you here?! What are you really trying to achieve you rancid, dragon-loving snake?! What have you already done?!"

It was safe to say that he'd completely forgotten about the dragon at this point. Norbert's emotions were running high and fogging up his comprehension. It was a wonder he hadn't attacked anyone yet.

[Phoenix]

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

When Gar asked if burning the trees as a battle strategy would be rejected , Reign muttered, "They already want me for desertion; just say the word and I'll torch this place." He kept his eyes open for any signs of movement between the trees but still didn't see anything. To Blake he said, "I can't do it from the ground, so you'll have to cover Raquel if we're going to do this." It seemed like they might actually be deliberately starting a forest fire. How atypical. Of course what was more atypical was Veronika revealing her full identity in the middle of a skirmish. Heh ... I'd be indoctrinated to hate her and everyone else like her if I hadn't left. Go figure. I'm always being reminded why I left.

The snipers then made their moves. One took aim at Gar and the other at Veronika. Only the former fired. The latter paused to weigh the risks of shooting a noblewoman. The arrow loosed at Gar whistled on by, just barely nicking the clothing and skin of his ribs. It had definitely been intended as a heart shot, but the aim at that distance was just slightly off.

Screams about Shaun were the last thing Greta wanted to hear right now. She'd just lost her father to that beast; she couldn't lose her only little brother too, regardless of the snipers or the dragon. She ran as fast as she could with complete abandon. While she tried to get over to him, Amon continued to try and convince Isis to drink. She wouldn't though, and with the latest developments, it was about time that he shifted his priorities to human beings. More from Raquel's group, including Raquel herself had just arrived, and with Shaun shot, the tension was back up. Amon left most of the medicine behind and only took enough with him to treat one person as he began heading back toward Shaun. On his way, Garrimor, who was carrying Haythem with him, passed by. Maybe Haythem could convince her to take her medicine. If that was the case, he was glad he left most of it there.

Once Haythem was on the ground, he sat himself upright and Isis slowly moved her head closer to him. He could tell that Amon had been trying to treat her and so continued the work. <"Come on, Isis, open up. I've got a treat for you. It'll make the pain go away ... eventually."> He held out his hand with an open elixir and Isis soon opened her massive jaws to receive it. It tasted familiar and it was all she could do to avoid hissing in protest. This was no treat at all, he was giving her disgusting liquids again. He would often trick her this way, and so she didn't know when to trust him and when not to. Just the same, she knew he wouldn't stop doing this until she had consumed quite a bit of it, so she beared with him while he emptied another four vulnerary and elixir bottles into her mouth. Disgusting beyond vocalizations. Oddly enough, though, like before, Isis felt her strength returning, or rather the pain inhibiting most of her movements subsiding. She began to wriggle around before long.

Shaun couldn't tell what had happened. The shock of being shot and falling onto his back in the span of a second had completely warped his perception of things for a time. It wasn't until Jamilla and Eli had come to his side that he began to be able to tell what was going on again, but that was no blessing; he was in terrible pain and scared beyond belief once he realized that he'd been shot. The sight Greta faced when she finally arrived at Shaun's fallen form was worse than she could have imagined. "I-I I'm sorry I ... really screwed up, didn't I? S-sorry ..."

"Shauuuun! Shaun," Greta shouted as she came over. She would have overshot them if she didn't slide to a stop just a few feet away. "Shaun don't move, I'll ... I'll think of somethin' ..." The second she laid eyes on the arrow, she knew there was nothing she could do. Remove the arrow and the head would stay inside, resulting in his death. Forcing it through would kill him as well, and healing him with the arrow inside was just as bad as the previous two approaches. Lastly, they might surgically remove the shaft and arrowhead together, but they didn't have the time. Shaun was dying and she couldn't do anything to help him.

It hurts so bad ... I can't even holler anymore. My eyes ... I can barely see anythin'. Oh no ... no. I can't leave Sis and the others like this. I don't wanna go ... Sis ... Shaun reached up with the hand he had been using to grab the shaft of the arrow and tried to touch Greta's cheek. Whether to feel warmer body or to wipe away her tears was uncertain. They look so sad ... Sis ... Jamilla. I can't feel my heartbeat ... anymore ... "Sis, I ... ...."

"Shaun? No, Shaun, say somethin'! Shau- ... " After another second, when Shaun's hand fell, Greta quickly looked away from her little brother's face. He didn't break eye contact, but he was gone, and she couldn't bear to see him like that.

Death From Above

"DAMN YOUUUUU," Greta shouted from the top of her lungs. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the sky and the sun risen high into it ... and a black spot. "You ...."

"Counter this," Schwartz snarled as unleashed a different dark spell than before. He was quickly surrounded by spheres of dark magic, a massive luna spell, as he nosedived toward the scene. Before long, some of the spheres began to race off ahead of him at tremendous speed. A few hit without harming anyone, but more than a dozen were on the way.

After the first few hit, Amon yelled over to Greta, Jamilla, Gytha, and Eli, "Get out of the way!" He then took his own advice, looked up to make sure he was moving to safety and not into danger, and then leaped out of the way as one of the dark spheres slammed into the ground and burrowed several feet in before dispersing. Each time a sphere hit the ground it would create a ditch and send black smoke, dispersing dark energy, billowing out of it.

Isis didn't wait for the dragon to show up and got onto her feet. She took a moment to make sure the dragon wasn't coming after her and then prepared to take off. Haythem wasn't sure whether to join her or go and help the others. Seeing Amon narrowly avoid one of those spheres helped him make his decision. He quickly yelled <"Go,"> to her prompting her to take off. He would deal with Amon himself. As far as Haythem was concerned, Isis had been through enough today. He could help Amon on his own if it came down to that. He was feeling good enough to walk, and that was about it, so he made his way toward Amon, limping and nursing his left side with his hand. <"Urgh, never seem to have enough armor in the right places ...">

Ayano thought to use the wagon for cover at first, but she quickly realized that the dragon was directly above it and would probably obliterate the thing at the end of his dive. The trees offered some cover, but no line of sight on the dragon or the others. Figuring there was little else she could do short of sacrificing herself, she made a dash for the trees and readied her blade in case anyone hiding inside tried to stop her. She had enough energy left for one exchange, and after that, she could still just carve them to bits if she had to.

As the lunar barrage rained down on the road, Reign quickly but carefully helped Raquel onto her feet so she could run the other way, but he knew he was going to have a hard time convincing her to actually run. Isis flying just barely over both of their heads, nearly knocked Raquel right back down. "It's time for you to head back. We'll deal with this," Reign insisted. Somehow ...

Negotiations were off once spheres began crashing down near Veronika and Marella as well. Raquel wanted so badly to start warping people out of harms way, but her staff was back at the wagon. She only knew how to warp herself without it, and that wasn't so much a warp as something high speed and incredibly disorienting. Deciding to try and do something as opposed to nothing, she reached out for Veronika and tried to pull her closer somehow. Her timing could have been better, but a split second later might have been the end of her. Veronika was engulfed by golden light, which then shrunk in size and raced over toward Raquel at high speed. When she appeared again, she was released by the light and plowed into Raquel sending them both to the ground.

"Whoa," Reign uttered in surprise. Quickly looking back to Bert and Marella who were still in trouble, he yelled, "RUN!!!" He was too little too late with one of them though, one sphere had hit the ground and sent dirt and rocks exploding onto Veronika and Marella, leaving them both vulnerable to the next sphere, which struck far too close to Marella to give Reign any hope.

Finally, Schwartz arrived over the wagon and it appeared as if he was going to crash into it like a brick but instead, he warped, leaving the last of the dark spheres behind, which obliterated the ground around the wagon and created something resembling a quarter dug moat. The bodies of the horses were also struck several times each and left bloody pulps. The wagon itself was damaged beyond repair and its roof had several holes blown clean through it. When Schwartz reappeared he was still flying at well over top speed but heading up the road from the east just barely above ground level. He flew right over Blake, Reign, and Gar's heads and smashed the wagon to bits with his tail when he reached it, sending debris raining down everywhere. With the wagon demolished, he pulled into a climb a ways up the road, seemingly preparing to make another pass.

Amon and Haythem had survived the dark magic assault, the latter having managed to reach the former and finding cover near the trees together. Neither of them could believe the scene. Things usually got bad around Raquel, but the last dragon they fought wasn't nearly this versatile.

[Parrhesia]

Rook stepped up quickly to rebuke. "Fuck off, you ponce!" he bellowed at Norbert. "This ain't the time! Now all of you, get to cov- !"

The ordnance hit. The archer was well away from the centre of the explosion, but found himself floored by the impact, dazed and on the point of unconsciousness. He tried to get to his feet, was unable to get past a kneell, and vomited. The stench of the magic... it was here, and it was overpowering. He had to find the source...

Grimly, he gripped the massive yew longbow and dared to glance up...

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

Marella was still encouraging her to get down, while Bert began some nasty accusations. She glowered and was about to respond when suddenly the assault began. No time, the dragon's giving me no time... she thought to herself as a nearby sphere of darkness caused a shrapnel of pebbles to fly at her. Another sphere was coming from above her, threatening to engulf her. This can't be the end, I'm not even close to finding Pavel... She had to smile a bit at the bitter irony of being killed by a dragon shortly after being called a dragon-loving snake.

She suddenly found herself plowing into Raquel and ending up in a heap on the ground. She had no idea how it happened, though figured it was some kind of magic. Rolling off of Raquel, she surveyed the scene quickly, the dark spheres were obliterating what they touched and she could not tell how many of the group still lived. Her eyes caught the sight of the dragon ready to swoop down for another pass. I recognize him...this is definitely the Imperial military behind this.

She managed to scramble towards her feet and started running towards Schwartz. I must be mad... I can't make it in time.

<"SCHWARTZ!"> she called out, her voice hoarse and cracked. <"I am Veronika Rusayev, daughter of Brigadier General Mikhail Rusayev! Please cease fire and parley!"> she shouted, raising her raw, bloody hands into the air palms up as a sign of surrender.

Edited June 27, 2013 by -Cynthia-

[Mercakete]

The tunnel vision which had temporarily clouded Norbert's mind was quite suddenly and rudely demolished as the dragon roared down at them. He was diving with some dark, magic spheres in tow, some even crashing down ahead of him. Several thoughts passed through Norbert's mind right then: Blast! Why wasn't I looking up more often?! I can't believe I forgot about that monster! Stupid weird magic...! All these along with a moment when he was keenly aware of his own mortality, though it was quickly replaced by his trying to anticipate where those spheres were going to hit. He knew they were magic and were probably not good for one's health, but that was the end of his knowledge on them. Still, better to treat them as crashing rocks which fell in a straight line than as something unavoidable. So, Norbert turned and ran towards the nearest edge of the clearing, giving a loud, shrill whistle as he did.

Thanks to the dragon's call and Amon's warning, Gytha had enough of a heads-up to dash away from the beginnings of the spell. The first sphere near her and the others crashed only just behind her as she dove out of the way. The landing was a bit rough but more spheres were coming, so she scrambled to her feet and continued to run through was was essentially dark magic hail where the hail in question is a lot bigger than typical hail chunks. There were a few close calls...

Rizen stamped her hooves uncertainly. Norbert was in trouble but black, dangerous things falling from the sky were making the ground explode. When he called, though, she didn't really have much of a choice. Sure it was scary, but he was a lot slower than she was and he couldn't fly. So, Rizen whinnied and ran out towards her rider, even as the dark spheres blasted into the ground. The rider smiled as Rizen ran towards him. He'd been uncertain about calling her since she would undoubtedly be in danger in this environment but, quite frankly, he could use the lift. As she dashed close enough, Norbert grabbed onto her saddle and hauled himself into it. Righting himself took a moment since he'd landed on his stomach but that didn't matter so much as getting out of the way as quickly as possible. The turns were sharper since Rizen was running more quickly than he could and so there were far more close calls than he had to deal with on his own feet, but eventually they made it to the wooded area again.

After the spheres had stopped bombarding the clearing and after the dragon obliterated the others' wagon, Norbert rode back out into the clearing, but stayed near the edge this time. I'm keeping my eyes on that stupid lizard this time.

Gytha, likewise, had survived the bombardment, though she was a bit more shellshocked than the Ursian pegasus rider was. It was difficult to decide what to watch out for next. Then there was the question of who made it out okay and what to do next. Should she run? Stay and fight? That dragon was certainly powerful and it had support to boot. Could they even win this one? That was when Veronika ran out and started yelling something in another language. Are we surrenderin'? That was odd. They'd never surrendered before.

Veronika's actions didn't escape Norbert's notice. His focused glare shifted over to her and turned from focused to disgusted again. What's she saying to it? Is she trying to get a lift back to Neviskotia or something? Trying to distinguish herself from us? Remembering what'd happened the last time he'd yelled at her, Norbert snapped his attention back to the dragon. I have to keep my eye on it. I'll worry about Veronika if I survive this.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

A sniper took Gar's semi-baiting and its arrow cut a new hole into his clothes along with a little nick on his flesh. Bastard. But his last shot gave him enough to trail the sniper back to the nest. Chirp chirp birdy. Gar shouted at the jackass who had missed him. "Your aim sucks!" But mine doesn't. Can't do much at this range with just the Flintlock though, he thought.

Before Gar could suggest something, the dragon began dragon-bombing the area again, knocking Gar down to his knees. Veronika was also closer now because of the gold glow thing from Raquel. But that aside, the dragon left the trees wide and fine. Watching the bastard soar right over them right after he noticed, got Gar cursing beneath his breath. "Shithead arrogant bastard. I'm going to pull out your brain and parade it in Kieven Russ one day." And then Veronica ran off yelling the name of the dragon. Great, just great. "As much as I was endorsing forest fires a second ago being the one place the dragon didn't attack seems like a much better position." Gar switched over to the forest cloak and retrieved his normal one--which luck of luck hadn't been blown away. "Old big dark and flying didn't wipe'em out so he probably is allied with the rats and might not risk flattening the woods."

[Eail]

Things were happening too fast, newcomers, snipers, Neviskotian royalty, Shaun.... Shaun....

Alphonse couldn't have saved the boy, he didn't have enough time, the damn arrow had just come from nowhere and landed perfectly at his heart. What the hell were they even supposed to do in this kind of situation, as if the dragon wasn't bad enough now they were actually being ambushed by the allies of the damn thing? Fighting... no, fighting wasn't an option, they had to get out of there and as quickly as possible.

Hoping that Amon's friends could at least keep the situation stalled long enough for him to do something Alphonse rushed to Greta's side before the dark spheres could hit, tackling both her and Jamilla out of the way of the attacks. Any injury he'd caused with that would be far less than what that dragon would have done to them. "Greta... Jamilla... I swear to the gods I'm going to get you two out of this. No more... no more of our friends get hurt!"

____

By the time Luka arrived on the scene it was already pure chaos with how people were running around, that huge dragon had caused so much destruction....

'What should I do.... I dont know what to do!'

Luka was just hoping someone would yell at him to do something at this point...

[Ether]

Well, earlier considerations were out the window, with the distinct feeling of dark magic giving enough premature warning that she was about to get her shit blown in, vacating the shelter of the wagon became a top priority. As soon as the skies above her head were clear, and not the roof of the vehicle, Angelica forced a mass of wind down beneath her, the pressure of the compressed air forcing her body into the sky.

'Alright, I just need to keep my center of gravity in check and apply more compressed air to alter my trajectory and maintain velocity... the one disadvantage of dark magic is that it's slow... I should be able to evade him so long as I can sense those spells...' The woman noted to herself... she'd have to be on the top of her game, while she might have evaded the incoming barrage, her aerial position would likely make her a target... best to rectify that quickly.

Although it didn't seem to be happening... the wagon being destroyed, and the dragon passing a ways over indicated he was just going to make sweeps until everyone was dead. Of course, in the mess there was one thing Angelica had noticed all too well... a certain arrow barely nicking a certain man. When the current sweep was clear, the woman made sure to launch herself towards the man's location, slowing her descent with more wind manipulation, eventually coming to a stop with a roll several feet from the familiar face.

"Fatal Howl." She stated, looking towards the silver haired ascendant of the Howling Voice guild... she supposed even without his reporting back, he wouldn't have been the type to up and die.

***

That fight with Sardis' men had been something... but this? Faatina wasn't sure what to think of the swathe of destruction left by this dragon... perhaps it was one of those things only Raquel could do anything about...

***

Well fuck... this wasn't some juvey punk dragon, but a full grown dark spell slinging motherfucker. Arietta let out a frustrated sigh, she had been looking forward to actually having a chance of killing the damn thing.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Fatal Howl. He really, really didn't expect to be hearing that. Especially NOW of all times. Did this really seem like the best time to be doing something like that? Well it certainly was the best time to be saying it wasn't the best time. "Yeah," Gar looked over to... Angel. Well that was... wrong. "Whatever problems you may or may not have with me can be settled beneath shade that's not made by a dragon k?" He looked back over at Raquel. "So, trees, yes no bacon?"

[Ether]

"That's the greeting I get after you dissapear from the face of Sardius? Classic Gar..." Angelica replied with a feigned groan, noticing Gar address the pink haired girl, who would appear to be the leader of whatever merry band he had hitched himself up with.

"So is she the new master to your lost puppy?"

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Well they did send out all the competent people with him. Or in the first wave if her presence and words were any indication. "Count yourself lucky you get a greeting and not a stab in the dark." Gar said. "That's how people usually meet me a second time." He ignored the rest. She should figure out that it was Raquel on her own.

[Ether]

"Definitely classic Gar..." Angelica repeated, trailing off as she did so, whilst readying several knives in the event that it would come to blows again before the elephant in the room returned... or dragon, as it were. If finding Gar had done one thing, it had put her in the open... just great.

'That girl, and that odd golden light... Gar might have found the damn thing after all...'

[RPG]

With the dragon's return, Garrimor found himself at a loss. He had always been a believer in survival of the fittest and that only the strongest ones deserve to live, but that was much easier to preach when you were the strongest man in the room. With a nigh-invincible dragon assaulting he and his comrades Garrimor just wanted to stop the creature.

So Garrimor did what he was best at: proclaiming his god-slaying glory.

"HEAR ME MISERABLE CREATURE!" Garrimor shouted to the heavens. "You act superior as you fly about like a gnat and sling spells like a coward? HA!" He moved away from Haythem and Isis to make sure that they wouldn't be too close to him. "You know nothing about what it means to be a real man! Come to me and face Garrimor the Great, SLAYER OF GODS AND A KING AMONG MEN!" Making sure nobody was in the direct vicinity, Garrimor beat his chest and howled. He could hardly believe he was using himself as a distraction, but he shook those thoughts out of his head and resolved himself to bear anything the dragon threw at him.

[Snowy_One]

<"Veronika! Get down! That rider almost certainly caused all this, almost killed you, and the snipers are likely on its side and you're trying to parlay? Even if your fathers name brings him down, it will likely be to kill you personally. You'll get blasted!"> said Robin as she quickly moved into position in front of Veronika, her bow drawn back. As much as she hated to do such a thing, Raquel would probably miss Veronika much more than herself and, if Robin was to do any good, she'd need a clear shot. She knew it was useless to shoot the dragon, it was armored with scale and possibly metal. Even if it held a weakspot at this range hitting such a thing would be difficult at best. However, distract it, lead it away, or even just mildly annoy it, those were things she could do.

"Raquel. Give the order and I will fire and try to lead it away."

---

Well, that ruined a lot. The mist surrounding Tia suddenly retreated as she called it back. Even if, somehow, she managed to spot the snipers with her mist, relaying their location, fighting them, and NOT getting shot by either sniper or dragon would simply be far too difficult. "Come on! Move!" she said to the steed, kicking it futilely in a weak imitation of an actual rider as she tried to get it to move. Even if she was to be in a support position, being able to move about to not get shot would be a huge edge, and having a mount to help her would make that even bigger. "Move, or do you WANT to get shot with dark magic?"

Edited June 27, 2013 by Snowy_One

[scorri]

Arrows. Dragon. No. They're going to die. Mar started to shove Nika out of the way when suddenly the other woman was engulfed in a bright golden light. When the light moved away, the woman was gone. Marella saw her reappear next to Raquel. With a small sigh of relief, she started to take a step when she heard the warning cry. Looking up, she saw the dark sphere hurtling towards her. No time to escape. Glancing around, she saw that none of the others seemed to be about to be hit. She nodded. Good. They would escape. She didn't regret this death. Now at last she could be free from her past. Free from the sorrow. She glanced across the gap towards the forest where she knew Rook was standing. Goodbye my friend.

The magic hit. A flash of pain.

And then there was only dark.

[Toogee]

Jam's hands went over her face as Shaun drew his last breath, hiding the streams of tears running down. His sister was in agony, and the dancer didn't feel it was her place to console her. Jam honestly felt it was her fault for leading Shaun towards the woods. Her first friend in their group was gone because of her. Would they have missed the arrow if she hadn't sprained her ankle? If only she had listened to Shaun and stayed to help Greta...

The world was paused around her until Alphonse tackled both Greta and Jam into the ground. Jam came back to her senses, witnessing the chaos around them. The dragon returned, followed by explosions, yelling, and more death. She had no idea what to do next, but Alphy seemed confident in getting them out. Jam wiped the tears from her face and nodded in response, adrenaline taking over her grief. For now, however, it seemed safer to remain on the ground and hope the dragon thought them dead.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eli immediately rushed for Betty, who was about to buck Tia off after all the kicking. Luckily, Eli showed up in time to calm his steed as well as the mage.

"Move to the front," he told Tia, "You'll need your hands free in case you have to attack."

Eli mounted behind Tia, his arms on each of the mage's sides to help keep her on the pegasus. He took off into the air, away from the dragon, the forest, and everyone. The rider needed to get away from all the chaos so he could think of something to do.

"OK, think think think," he said aloud to himself. "We certainly can't attack that beast, and if everyone just retreats to the forest, they'll have to deal with whatever army is hiding in there." Eli was at a loss as to how to bring the situation to a swift end. At the moment, he could only watch the events unfold before him.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Toogee

[Parrhesia]

Rook staggered to his feet, then ran.

No. No, it's not right. It can't ... it just can't...

He dropped the bow and took Marella's body in his hands. "Hey..." he said, almost in a dream, but nothing felt real anymore. "Hey, Ella, w-wake up. It's all... it's all fine. You can come back, n-now. They're all..." Rook blinked back the tears. Men didn't cry. "They're... they're all gone. It... it doesn't matter. We just have to go, you and me, r-right now... things... hah... things could get dangerous..."

He became half-aware of his surroundings. "It's going to be okay, Ella..." he murmured, softly placing the maimed body back on the ground. "I'm... I'm going to do what you would've wanted. Everyone who did this to you is gonna die, slow and painful. And then I'm gonna live, 'cause even now you're all I got to live for, and I'll bury you proper, 'cause leaving you out here ain't r-right." He laughed, because it was that or cry.

And he picked up the longbow.

"Right, then," he muttered. "Who wants to die first... ?"

[Phoenix]

Hold Your Bows

"We can probably handle whatever's hiding in the woods and no one will have a clear shot at us anyway, so I'm for it," Reign commented. Of course, if they were going to make a run for it, now was the time, before Schwartz began another strafing run. With the wagon reduced to scraps, and no other cover on the road, they were like fish in a barrel until they reached the trees. Once again, Reign was having trouble nudging Raquel toward safety because she was worried about Veronika and the others.

With so many people trying to get the dragon's attention at once, Reign was expecting an area spanning attack to silence them all at once. Why would he bother just attacking one person with several yelling at it? "Guys, get to the woods and watch out for the shooters," he called out, hoping they would give up and run. At this point, he was about ready to just drag Raquel off but they would be even more vulnerable to attack from the snipers if he did. He needed her to be attentive or they might both get killed just heading over there.

Greta meanwhile experienced first hand the pain of being forcibly removed from danger. A few scratches didn't even compare to seeing her little brother die right in front of her, though. Alphone's pledge to get them out alive had Greta wondering what the point of it all was now? Her immediate family was slaughtered. Granted, Jamilla had no reason to stay and fight to the death, but Greta still had a shot in her pistol. At some point, she planned to use it.

"Hey, Garrimor, don't get yourself killed," Haythem called out to the wolf man, who was playing the taunting game louder than anyone else at present. "Get to the trees, man," he immediately followed up with the suggestion. He was a fair distance away and hadn't quite heard Gar's suggestion, but it still occurred to him after Ayano disappeared into the forest the same way. Amon meanwhile kept his eyes on the area behind them both, because they could both get skewered while no one was looking if he didn't.

Deep down, Shadrak had been wrestling with the idea of being needed in a situation like this, but when Aneda, Mushirah, and he all arrived, he finally stamped out that idea for the time being. There was no way in hell he was going to have a significant part in ending all of this. Carefully getting down from Hannah, he said, "Mushirah, let's try and keep that thing off of the others. Uh, Aneda, you should probably get the injured to safety," to both of them. He didn't know the full situation, but it was at least obvious that people needed help, and fast.

Raquel was still resisting any plan that involved getting to safety by simply standing there. What had her worried now was that the dragon was swooping down toward Veronika, not at as high a speed as before, but she could easily be picked off at this point if she didn't move. She was torn about whether or not to have Robin shoot at it. It would be a small course correction, and then Robin would be the one getting picked off.

"You're not going to 'lead' it anywhere; we're in a wrathdamn shooting gallery. One well placed area attack and we're all history," Reign said to Robin's plan.

If a shot was going to be taken one way or another, that looked like the time, but Schwartz pulled off final warp just as he came down toward Veronika and appeared behind her, grinding loudly to a halt that sent out small tremors and summoned up a wave of dust around her. Sitting up almost like a hound, he looked directly down at her as his wings slowly began to fold up at his sides. ... of course from Raquel's perspective, it looked like Schwartz had warped on top of and crushed her. "VERONIKA!!!" It took quite a bit of doing to hold her back, but Reign wasn't going to let her run off toward that dragon when a flick of his tail was enough to flatten her.

<"You have my attention, 'Rusayev'. That name shouldn't be coming up way out here. I'm not one for ceasefires, but I'll give you a chance to prove who you are at the very least. After that ... well ... I'll just see what I can do with whoever's still around.">

[Snowy_One]

Tia gave a sharp squeal as she was moved to the front and the mount took off. She bent down low, gripping the peggy as hard as she could as she pulled her tome out and started to flip through the pages, trying to find just the right spell to use as her own mind raced for ideas. The problem was simple. Attacking was suicide. Running would be troublesome at best. There had to be a solution.

"We need to get that beast off of us, but we can't defeat it head on. If we try to fight an army of snipers it will only result in us being picked off. If we can remove one of the factors it creates leeway on the other. If the dragon and army are, indeed, allied, then removing the dragon should cause distraction for the army. So remove the dragon! We can't kill it, but we can addle it! So... Eli was it? Do you, by any wild chance, happen to be either a skilled light mage or have flash grenades to blind it?" asked Tia, hopefully, just as the dragon landed.

"Or a personal connection to any form of deity involved in diplomacy and peace to pray to?"

---

Robin gulped as the dragon landed right in front of her. This was bad. VERY bad. If the dragon turned on them, she would have no room to dodge or anything, meaning that, slowly, relaxing her bow and taking a step back, letting Nika do her thing, was the only thing she could do.

"<Please don't eat me! I didn't even fire at you!>"

Besides begging for her life.

Edited June 28, 2013 by Snowy_One

[Snike]

A sniper showed themselves while Marella argued with Veronika. He shot at white-haired swordsman, who took the arrow like a champ and appeared relatively unharmed, which was nice as it meant another set of eyes to find the archer. Axel decided to help the fellow by shooting a bolt at around where the arrow came from. Just as he went to reload, the dark sphere carpet bombing began. Much to the lancer's relief, Veronika was warped to safety, though at the cost of the female Neviskotian knight and the damaged wagon, which meant there was no cover anymore. In the meantime, a figure ran towards the brush. Weyland's employee dropped the crossbow for his rod and aimed it, but moved it when he realized that it was Ayano. Back to the road where, much to Axel's chagrin, the Neviskotian noblewoman ran on after the dust settled, trying to speak with the shadow dragon who was coming down for a second pass. That fool. Hopefully the man who was taunting their attacker would be distracting enough for a quick save.The would-be friendly sniper sprinted towards the would-be negotiator, but only made it to the side of the road when Schwartz had warped right behind her, coming to a stop too close for comfort, as Raquel's scream would testify. Hopefully the dragon's voice, despite being in Neviskotian, was enough to calm her down a bit. The contents of his words, however, were not acceptable. Seems he would have to blow cover after all. Axel made sure his hood was up, then advanced towards the lady and the dragon.

"You will do no such thing. Stand down, Colonel," Axel said, loud enough to catch Schwartz's attention. He turned so that Veronika couldn't see his face, and gestured for anyone who saw him to go into the forest. "<And pass that along to your men. The ones who aren't out cold.>"

OOC: Axel should not be recognized, vocally or visually, except by certain people the GMs control.

***

Marella came out of nowhere and went to cover Veronika, which in turn led to an argument between the two of them. Blake wasn't paying as much attention, as he was getting ready to take over for Reign.

"No problem," Blake said,"Just do your thing, and I'll cover her."

Of course, things went to hell when the dark sphere barrage occurred, what with the magic absolutely devastating the road. Raquel, through the emblem, somehow warped Veronika out of danger, but Marella sustained an almost direct hit. The damaged wagon was cratered, and demolished by the dragon's pass, which led the swordsman to try and protect the others from as much debris as possible. He managed to get a few injuries, but not enough to drop him, luckily. Then, he went to check to see if Marella was dead. She was, with that wound. Damn it all. The Ursian man drew his sword, and abandoned that line of thought as Veronika ran off towards their enemy. He couldn't lose control, not right now. So as a stranger- one of the other wagon's mercenaries, perhaps- began taunting the winged beast, Blake got ready to cover Raquel and Reign in the seemingly imminent event of their retreat. It appeared even more likely when the dragon warped and appeared to land on top of Veronika, which prompted a scream from his employer.

"Reign, we need to get her out of here," Blake said, struggling to remain calm. "I'll cover you both. Go."