Dragon Hunt Session 4

Princess Guard - The New Era 2016/09/22 	 Titan Charm Caleb Daemon Aqua 23

In the Dwarven Mine
Fearing the the task she has given the heroes may be difficult, Astrel summons in Aqua. The summoned Aqua appearing next to Charm with no advance warning.

Daemon is emboldened having Titan at the point of the spear, but still he doesn't sit still. No - Not ever, Daemon's style is all about staying mobile and ahead of his attackers. As such, he skitters along the wall a few paces... Then suddenly he follows up his first shot with the second half of his one-two combo.

From the Dragon's reaction, it seems Daemon's StickyDiscs are at least agitating the creature.

With a hard Left Jab - his SpinnerGauntlet activates a High Voltage Stickydisc and then launches it at high speed - covered in sticky webbing.

Charm manages not to jump at the sudden appearance. "Good day."

The great dragon reacts as the disk causes high voltage arcs to spread over her dragonhide.

The dragon goes for the little irritating creature that keeps stinging it. A massive talon reaches out and rakes at Daemon with sharp looking claws. But the dragon's sheer size prevents careful aim. The clawed forefoot is over three metres across. It's going to be more of a bludgeoning impact.

Caleb's eyes widen as he sees the claw come down at Daemon, and leaps to grab his erstwhile ally around the waist. Or, well, to snag him by the belt as he lands somewhere nearby. The claw comes down through both of them, harmlessly.

The dragon's forefoot swipes at where Daemon is and passes through the luckily desolid bodies of Daemon and Caleb, ripping out a two metre deep six metre long groove in the ceiling as it does.

Instead of celebrating his successful volley, Daemon's eyes go wide as he feels the massive amount of air being moved by the dragon coming his way.

Even with his enhanced reflexes the claw is on him before he can react - that is until Caleb snags him and makes him incorporeal.

Still Daemon flinches as the claw passes through him and Cale.

"Woah..." Is all Daemon mutters as he tries to figure out what the hell just happened.

Titan knows he's going to have to hit the dragon as hard as possible. He flies the remaining distance to it and lands. He then starts to wind up with as much power as possible behind the punch. "I thought we were letting me take the brunt of the attacks? Let me get its attention!"

"You're just a little out of phase with reality, is all," Caleb explains. He lets go of Daemon's belt loop but preserves the effect. "You can't touch them, they _hopefully_ can't touch you. Won't last too long, though."

"Have at it Big Man!" Daemon shouts back to Titan.

He turns to Cale, "Well thanks - I owe you one." He says seriously as he focuses on the fight ahead. 'Ok gotta keep moving. Probably not going to get another one of those...' He thinks to himself.

The great dragon is a full 120 ft long and wider than a container truck at her middle. She's curled in a half circle because the 100 ft diameter cavern in the mine simply isn't large enough for her to straighten out.

Aqua decides attacking the scary dragon head-on might not be such a bad idea. Little pieces of mist conjure up around Aqua's body, then condense into streams of water that flow around her hands. Her wings flutter and move quickly as she lifts off the ground, and aims rush straight into it!

Aqua connects with her fist and the rest of her body! ...Which momentarily vanishes and reappears as she then just tumbles out of the sky and plummets back to the ground, landing somewhere near the dragon, knocked out by her own attack.

The dragon yowls as Aqua thuds into her flank. The dragon is probably knocked about by the impact, although it's like hitting the side of an armored battleship. The yowl carries over-tones of fear though for some reason.

Astrel follows her father into the mine but stops next to Charm.

Harlequin shows up late to the battle, stepping out in time to see Aqua ram herself into the dragon's flank. He tilts his head to one side, then murmurs to himself, "I must admit I am curious as to the limits..." As his defenses are already raised, he reaches out and 'gathers' pure magick into an opalescent ball in his hands. This takes a while but, in the end, he launches the sphere at the dragon."

The ball of magical force reaches the dragon and seems to be absorbed by the dragon's scaly hide. The only noticeable reaction is a sudden belch from the great dragon's smoke oozing mouth.

"Not sure that helped, laughing boy," Cale mutters darkly.

Charm darts forth from her hiding place, having thought how she can be useful: while everyone else is keeping the dragon busy she'll look for its weak spot.

It's hard to be sure but somehow there's an impression that some of the shaking up Daemon and Aqua have done has been reversed by the 'gift' of mana.

Harlequin shrugs one shoulder as he makes a 'hmmph' sound. "Well, that was disappointing. Hoped it would penetrate. And cannot just drop the mountain on it," he mutters in an irritated tone.

Charm asks Harlequin, "Do you have a way of drawing mana from her?"

"They _did_ warn us," Cale replies in an equally irritated tone.

Aqua lays motionless for a bit, but then ughs. That freakin' hurt, damnit. She can't do two of those in one setting, for sure. She's not quite able to move just yet though.

Titan slugs the dragon quite hard...though not as hard as Aqua bounced off moments earlier. Still, he's a standing target. Perhaps he'll have gotten its attention anyway.

The dragon emits a surprised sounding "Ohhf" as Titan slams his fist into her flank. She felt that.

Daemon feels his chest and then his arms to make sure he's 'normal' again as he activates his sound dampeners & begins running back toward the action. Each and every step is absolutely silent despite his rapid pace.

.oO( You think you've gotten her attention yet big guy? )Oo. Dae asks mentally over the comm line as he moves into position.

He focuses his mind on feeling the motions of everything around him with his nanoscale trichobothria and then takes a leap over the dragon. He lands in a 3pt stance and deactivates his sound dampeners as he feels the surface he's landed on.

Instead of leaping over the Dragon - it seems he's miscalculated the creature's breadth and height. He finds himself standing on the great beast's back.

.oO( Oh boy... )Oo. He murmurs mentally as he realizes the mistake he's made.

Daemon grows bored waiting for Titan's answer, though it's only been a few milliseconds by his count. Still the broadband out here in the sticks sucks so what do you expect?

Instead of being sensible and waiting for an answer, Daemon activates his Digistructed Claws on his first two fingers and thumb. He looks down to his feet though it's too dark to see anything until his claws illuminate the area around him.

He shrugs and swipes his right hand and its three claws along the great dragon's back.

If this doesn't work- perhaps the Dragon will let him live as its personal back scratcher.

Daemon's claws burn incredibly hot - so hot most things just sizzle and dissolve as opposed to providing any real resistance.

The dragon's scales are a bit tougher than most substances Daemon's contended with.

Still once he provides firm pressure behind the swipe the claws sink in and bite into the Dragon's hide. The edges of the small fissures left in his wake still glow red hot from the plasma-charged claws.

Charm stays ready to dart back, at need, into another nook, while she keeps looking for a weak spot on the dragon.

The dragon has been struck by water, stung by a irritating little human, and now hurt. She's in a frenzy of fear from the water and anger from the stinging and injury. Worse, the little human is on her back where she can't reach with flame or claws. The dragon rears up intending to flip onto her back and crush the stinging creature. But the cavern is just not large enough. Her wings open and flap futilely, slamming into the cavern ceiling and bringing down tons of rock. Her head splines are ripping more rock from the ceiling. Daemon's difficulty is hanging on to a dragon that is making a bucking rodeo stallion seem a tame gentle pony.

Charm cries out, "Under the right wing, where it meets the body - there's a scale missing!"

By sheer blind luck the tons of falling rock miss almost every single hero.

.oO( I demand an obtusely large belt-buckle for this! )Oo. Daemon says snarkily over comms.

.oO( Show those Texans how its done... )Oo. he adds as the Dragon writhes and then attempts to roll (while managing to rock very hard.)

Every hero except for Titan. The big guy gets hit in the back by a rock that bounced off another rock.

Titan doesn't seem phased by the falling rock that bounced off of him.

Harlequin looks up as the rocks fall down around everyone else but Titan, and well, bouncing off the, well, titanic hero. "Really?!? We can't but she can?"

Caleb says, "Dragons have their own rules, I guess," chuckling in a way he probably wouldn't be without Charm's musical accompaniment."

Titan grimaces and winds up again, trying the same thing. This time he tries more seriously to get the dragon's attention. He shouts at it, "That the best you've got?!"

Caleb considers staying in phase for the rest of the fight, which sounds a lot safer than, well, not. But then he remembers the inspiring music Charm played a moment earlier and stiffens his resolve. He steps back fully into the dragon's dimension, backs away from it, and strikes it hard through a portal, attempting to strike past its scales, focusing his efforts on the spot near the wing that Charm pointed out.

The dragon yowls in obvious pain as Caleb's portal punch hits the weak spot where a scale is missing.

Caleb says, "BOO-YAH! Hey, did anybody else notice that beastie being scared of the water?"

Harlequin watches the dragon rear back in pain from the recent attacks and notes that Caleb seems to have hit the scaleless area Charm mentioned. Darkness it seems is no problem for the mage. He also notes that Aqua is not moving, so he magicks himself to beside her and raises a physical barrier around the two of them.

Aqua ughs and grumbles. She can't even react to the falling rocks, but luckily her tiny size works to her advantage. But finally she manages to get her body to do something other than just lay there, by moving her arm a little and twitching her tail. So she's still laying on the ground. She turns her head to look up at Harl, "Thanks."

Daemon doesn't relish moving away from his spot on the Dragon's back. After all - it seems just out of reach of claw and flame alike.

With a soft groan he skitters along the side of the Dragon's body - moving away from the others, which just happens to be beneath the right wing. Sometimes things work out. Sometimes. Rarely. When forced.

Considering he's shooting blind he feels with his feet and palms as he goes for the missing scale... whatever that feels like.

Then suddenly - a fist sized aperture in space opens in front of him.

His Nanoscale Trichobothria detects the subtle change in front of him.

The dragon's pained movements and yowling lets him know everything he needs.

He activates his right claw and swipes at the weak spot.

The dragon rears up, head smashing against the ceiling, as Daemon strikes into the weakened area. Then a shuddering ripple runs the full length of the dragon's body and it collapses onto the floor of the cavern and, except for some twitching at tail and feet, lays still.

Caleb blinks.

Charm breathes a sigh of relief.

Caleb observes the twitching feet. "Aw, it's so cute! Probably dreaming about eviscerating us."

Titan smiles. "See? Not too difficult."

Harlequin watches the dragon fall to the one-two attack of Caleb and Daemon as he murmurs to Aqua, "You are welcome, my dear Aqua." As the dragon twitches, he lets the barrier fade away. "Astrel? I think the field of battle is yours now?"

[To Titan] Charm says, "Easy for you to say."

The little girl comes forward. "Yes. Thank you. All of you. I have another favour to ask of you. What I'm going to attempt is very very hard. I'll need your help. I need you to approve of me. Love and affection will be nice too. But approving of me should give me the power I need for my part in this."

Caleb considers that. "Look... you're sweet and all, but I don't really know you. I don't mean to be rude here, but if you're serious... well, what have you done that I should approve of?"

Aqua's body glows a blue light, and she seems to feel quite a bit better. But then Aqua just lays there for a bit more before finally getting up. "That hurt, a lot." Aqua mutters, rubbing her head. Then she looks over toward said little girl, and seems confused. "Uh, huh?"

Astrel smiles at Caleb, "Well I haven't been born yet so I haven't had many chances to do things. But if this," she points at the dragon, "works it will be a good thing. So, can you kind of approve of my potential?"

Titan nods to Astrel. "Well, I approve of what you're doing."

Charm nods. "That, certainly."

"Sure, I'll approve of your, er, potential." Aqua says, heading away from the dragon, smiling a little. Harlequin goes over to Astrel and leans down to kiss her atop her head. "Go ahead, Astrel. I suspect you are breaking all sorts of rules doing this. But I would expect that of any child of mine." He then goes back over to Aqua.

Caleb considers that, then nods. "I suppose. It's a bit roundabout, but, hell, it's time travel, what do I expect, right? And, sure, if you've got a way out of this that doesn't kill anyone, I'm all for it." Somewhat awkwardly he raises a fist in the air and says "Go Astrel!"

The little girl goes to get a hug from her father. Then she goes to the dragon and touches its head. Those with the right senses, such as Caleb and Charm, can see she is reaching out across dimensions to link every surviving great dragon to the one in front of you. When she's finished doing that she looks tired... but her work is only just started. She draws Mana from the dragons, letting it flow away across a dimensional rift. The dragon in front of you is shrinking, reducing in size, as is every one of the hundreds of linked dragons. It doesn't take long but by the time Astrel is finished the dragon is a 'mere' 24 ft long and the mine is - to those sensitive to it - glowing with a heightened level of Mana. Astrel steps away and stumbles, takig a couple of tottering steps to grab hold of Harlequin for support.

Caleb watches, incredulous, but takes the opportunity to mark the locations of those great dragons as best as he can.

Harlequin watches what Astrel is doing on many different levels but remains silent while she goes about her work. When she stumbles, the masked mage immediately takes her in his arms. "Well, that looked difficult," he murmurs in an affectionate tone unlike any you all might have heard him use before. "

Astrel nods, "Yes, it was, father." she says and snuggling into his arms she promptly falls asleep.

Aqua blinks, and braces herself a little against the huge tide of magic - she's never felt anything quite like this before! Aqua looks toward the little girl, and wonders about her and how much strength she has. "Woah." Aqua says, "...What /was/ that?" She asks, looking toward Harl and the others present. Her ears move to middle out.

Charm smiles. "I haven't felt this much magic since the great conjunction on Mistsea...."

Harlequin gathers up Astrel in his arms then stands fully upright. He looks over at the dragon then glances about the mine. "Well, this will be an interesting place in years to come. I suspect a school and or forges might get built/rebuilt here. Given the magick that now soaks the area." His gaze returns to the dragon. "Metaphysically, this place and the dragon are changed. I suspect it affected more than here. But that is not something I can...know."

Caleb says, "Well, the dragons she linked to weren't here, that's clear enough."

Titan scratches his head, not really understanding what happened. "So...uh....what now?"

In his best please-dear-God-say-no voice, Cale asks "Well, do we need to worry about the other dragons? Cuz if we do, I could maybe get us there, but... if not, I guess we're done? At least if Astrel is right. Course, our employers might take some convincing."

Charm says, "Hm. I hope there aren't unforeseen side effects to the greater mana levels. This region was already... interesting, with lots of ways between the worlds. We are not far from Wyrmsend...."

Harlequin looks over at Charm then back down at the dozing goddess in his arms. "I am certain that Ablewoman Charm, with her bardic skills, can make an adequate case to the Royal Court."

"More dragons?" Aqua asks, frowning a little. Her head's still a little soar from running into that one, she's not too sure she wants to go for round two. "Also, what about this dragon? Do we just leave them here now?"

Caleb looks Harlequin over carefully. "So, I'm still kind of new to this whole polite court manners thing. Is that a polite way of saying 'mind control them'? Cuz that might end badly." He nods to Aqua and adds "I can't think of a better idea... can you?"

Charm says, "Other dragons shouldn't know the way here, so there shouldn't be an immediate problem. But as for fear of the great dragons - that's not going to go away quickly. Nor should it, as long as their appetites remain without limits."

Suddenly there's another figure standing among you. A fae lord. One of considerable gravitas. "Lord Harlequin," he is already saying as he appears. "will you come? Lady Lethode and I would seek your different point of view. Something incredible has happened."

Titan sighs as yet another event happens without the prior one resolving. (Re: Mind Control Micky) "Yeah...no. Large dragon. Gotta deal with this first."

Aqua gives a little nod to Charm, lowering her ears and looking toward the dragon. She wonders just what it is she helped with today. But then a fae lord appears and Aqua's ears perk up with his sudden arrival. But it isn't for her, so she just sorta looks toward him.

Harlequin shakes his head. "No, not magic. Just good old fashioned rhetoric and debate. I'm certain Ablewoman Charm is better at that than any of u..." He trails off as the Fae lord appears. "At a guess, Lord Morrowin, the dragons have changed? Grown smaller, perhaps even regained the ability to think clearly with luck?" He shifts Astrel in his arms as he turns to face the Fae lord he apparently recognizes.

Lord Morrowin blinks, "Dragons? I know nothing about dragons. Mana has returned to the Home." he says. You can almost hear the quotes around the word home.

Charm raises an eyebrow, and curtseys to the lord, remembering her lowly role, even as she tries to determine just how high his rank is.

"...have started local chapters of Weight Watchers and are looking at each other going 'Does this make me look fat?'..." Cale murmurs, not quite quietly enough to avoid being heard.

Harlequin goes still for a moment then looks down at Astrel. "Is that where you sent most of it? You clever girl, you," he murmurs in near awe. "Well, Nexus, that was rather the point of this. Well, the redirected point," he adds in a bemused tone.

Lord Morrowin acknowledges Charm's curtsy with a bow, "Your manners are impeccable, young lady. You do your house proud. But I hold no rank on these worlds. Be at ease."

Charm rises, but says, "If I mistake not, though, you are of the line of the Eldest Kings, and my kin, distant beyond remembrance of remembrance. Pulling out her harp, she plays the ancient Lament for the Eldest Home, hoping that something in the ancient strains will be familiar to the lord."

Harlequin looks over at Lord Morrowin after Charm speaks. "In short, Lord Morrowin, mana was...shunted...to your home dimension when this little girl changed dragons so they are not consumed by their hunger any longer. I am guessing she stripped the excess mana from all of their... bodies... and lacking anywhere else to put it, sent it back to the places it came from. If she could. The rest, well, some of it is now here." You can almost hear a manic grin in his voice. "Isn't magick interesting?"

Lord Morrowin bows more deeply to Charm, "House and kin. I should have seen it. You will need a new song. For we need lament no more. Mana has returned. The Home will be restored. It will take time but that we have in abundance."

Lord Morrowing looks at Harlequin, "My Lord, who is that girl?"

Titan folds his arms and waits while the pleasantries are dealt with.

Caleb doesn't exactly know what's going on, but it sounds good, so he just listens.

Charm replies, "The greatest masters and mistresses of song and voice will be honoured to write that song. And I, humbly, to sing it."

Harlequin looks down at the child in his arms as he murmurs, "She will, one day, be my daughter and someday a goddess. Once I get around to meeting her mother at some point in the future." He adds in a deadpan tone. "It's complicated. I'm just accepting it. Not much else to do, yes?"

The mage adds in a soft mutter, "Well, assuming I'm not the mother...that would be awkward..."

Caleb raises an eyebrow. "You got a spell for that too?"

Lord Morrowin bows to Harlequin, "You live an interesting life, my Lord. Will you come to Dragon Mountain when you can? My Lady will wish to hear this tale from your own lips. In the meantime, Ladies, Gentlemen, I apologise for this intrusion... Until another time." he says, first to Harlequin and then to you all in general. Then *POP* he is no longer there.

Harlequin glances over at Caleb. "Shapechanging can be very...life changing, Nexus." His tone is dry. But he does nod to Lord Morrowin.

[To Harlequin] Charm says, "She asked for approval - and she truly deserves that and much more. This day she has saved the Twilit Worlds, the First Home and the ancient and noble race of dragons, our longtime foes, but not through malice. We have wronged the dragons as much as they wronged us, again through necessity. Perhaps now something can be done to make amends."

Titan says, "Speaking of...as I asked before...what exactly is going to happen now?"

"I noticed we still don't have a wifi signal- so I guess not everyone's wishes came true today." Daemon says, returning from skulking about the cavern doing- well who knows.

While he speaks, he starts trying out different titles with his name. 'Daemon- The Dragon Slayer... Daemon- Dragonsbane.... Oh that's good.'

Harlequin murmurs gently, "Yes, perhaps a rapprochement can be reached, Ablewoman Charm. And Commander Titan, well, I have no idea. The dragon is no longer an existential threat but is a large dangerous beast although likely now sentient beast." He glances around. "Perhaps we should go above and make certain no one kills it before we have a chance to talk?"

Caleb shrugs to Titan. "Beats me, boss."

Titan says, "It's not going to want to eat magic any longer?"

Titan grins, "Explain it to me like I don't know anything. Because I don't know anything about this."

Charm says, "Enough to live, yes. But not enough to grow and reproduce like rabbits. If I am seeing what I think I see."

Harlequin looks down at Astrel. "Well, not like it once did or so I would imagine. And the magick won't destroy their minds any longer or be addictive to them." He glances over at the dragon. "I say we let her live and talk to the dwarves and the Court. Get their input. If they decide to attack, well, they'll have Daemon Dragonsbane to help them."

Charm says, "I know the old stories, the secret songs. The dragons never wanted to be the monsters they became. But when they left their homeworlds and found worlds richer in magic, they couldn't help themselves, drunk on the mana - it was simply their nature."

"Tragedy of the commons," Caleb murmurs, not wanting to seem _entirely_ lost.

"Here here!" Daemon shouts when someone uses one of his ridiculous nicknames. Then he adds after Charm's explanation, "Speaking of drunk..."

He reaches behind his back and pulls a flask out of one of the pouches on his back.

He opens it and takes a nice long swig.

Charm decides she owes her companions the rest of the story, after their part in the events. "And we - the races of the Twilit Worlds - had no choice but to destroy them before they destroyed us, by the most dishonourable means imaginable. It is our greatest shame. The other races have forgotten, but the fae remember."