323 replies to this topic

[kdanger]

"<She hasn't actually told me, but given what she was saying earlier, I think she's trying to turn things in your favor,>" Glinka replied. "<I know she's not stupid enough to think there's some way to get your side to surrender, anyway.>" The spirit doll connecting him to Borodin lit up; he listened in for a moment.

"<Bring him back here to talk, if you can convince him,>" Borodin replied. "<Otherwise, I'll fly out to talk to him, but I'd rather not be airborne if I can avoid it.>"

"<Understood,"> Glinka said, and pocketed the doll again. "<I can take you to her, if you want. It would probably be to your advantage. Oh, do those two need any help, by the way?>" he asked, jerking his head to indicate where the other two wyverns had fallen.

[Phoenix]

Lev

Lev: <Hmm, I understand what you're saying, but I can't risk being captured. If she's willing to meet me, that would be just fine too. Neutral ground where neither of us have to worry about a bunch of reinforcements coming to ruin the other's day.>

[kdanger]

Glinka nodded, and got out the spirit doll again. "<He's not going to get near the palace, you'll have to come out here,>" he said without preamble.

"<I assumed as much. I'll be there shortly; stay where you are unless the battle moves to you.>" Borodin turned to Iris. "<I should not be gone for very long. The order to hold ballista fire remains; I'll be in contact if there's anything to keep me from coming back.>" She already had a spirit doll to Iris in her pocket; communication would not be difficult. She waved the two best riders in her unit over and ducked inside, heading to the nearest aeries. Grabbing a standard-issue helmet to both protect and obscure her, she then sent the nearest wyvern attendant to fetch a trio of sturdy but unremarkable wyverns.

It was a non-trivial risk, taking flight now, but she had two competent wingmen and she could very well turn the tide of the battle in favor of the mercenaries if she opened up communication to their second-in-command. She mounted up, signaled to her men, and took flight.

Shortly she was approaching the airspace where Glinka and the mercenary commander circled. "<I am Brigadier General Borodin,>" she introduced herself as she got within earshot. "<Glinka, I've got it from here; head back to Northwest, and get medical aid on its way to Southeast once things clear.>" Glinka nodded and flew off, his own men following. "<You are?>" she asked Lev.

[Phoenix]

Trio

Lev: <Levski Petrov, second in command of Ivanko's Mercenaries. A pleasure ... for the moment, Brigadier General.> Now where oh where is this going to go I wonder? <What did you wish to speak with me about?>

With Kiev back in the air, he flew up alongside Nikita who was now carrying Irina as well as Stephanie. Nikita wasn't at all pleased though the extra load didn't bother her much at all. This was Kiev's human. She only wanted to carry her own rider. It was annoying to say the least. They stayed together but kept their distance while Lev spoke with the wyvern riders that had just shown up. It didn't take Irina more than a second to realize that if they were hostile things would have already kicked off.

Edited by Phoenix, 08 May 2011 - 01:40 AM.

[kdanger]

"<Since you appear to be more powerful and competent than current leadership, I'm willing to work with your side to overthrow the imperials,>" Borodin explained. "<Currently all I can do to help you is keep some of the siege engines held down; just because I'm willing to work with you doesn't mean I'm willing to see massive numbers of my own soldiers die, so I'm tied up trying to get aid to the citadels to get people out. However, if you're willing to cooperate, I may also be able to sway several other generals to my side, and get you access to the siege engines.>" She glanced back at the battle. "<I'm afraid there's not much I can do about Orteiga, though; he answers only to the royals themselves. So, will you take my offer?>"

[Phoenix]

Interesting Proposal

Lev nodded several times during her explanation letting her know that he understood but doing so without interrupting. It was an interesting proposal, and Lev began thinking about how things must have changed, despite Zaftra's current decaying state.

Lev: <So twenty-five years is what it takes for people to start considering that maybe, just maybe, Denisov is only watching his own back and doesn't care about the Zaftran people? Better late than not at all and both sides taking ridiculous losses I suppose. I can agree to this, but I need to speak with Ivanko about it to get the final word, otherwise our forces won't be discriminating.>

[kdanger]

Borodin nodded. "<I can't stay out here, either.>" She reached into the pocket opposite the one containing all the spirit dolls that were currently active and pulled out an unused pair, drawing up alongside Lev and tossing one over. "<Either I or my assistant will have the match to that at any given time. I expect to hear from you shortly.>" With a final nod of acknowledgement, she turned to head back to the wall.

Returning to her post, she immediately had instructions for Iris. She handed back Zolkov's spirit doll. "<Zolkov's most likely done for; I won't need this,>" she stated. "<Get me lines for Makalov and Uspensky.>" Those two generals were likely useless, she knew, but then she wasn't looking to get them to engage anyone.

[-Cynthia-]

The raven watched the battle with passing interest. She had seen battles of this ilk before, though the giant worms were certainly...interesting. She perched on whatever she could find, often forced to move quickly to avoid a stray blow or a falling wyvern. Her eyebrow raised when the dim witted wyvern carrying the red-haired mage almost slammed into a rock, but they appeared to fix the situation themselves. She perched on a nearby rock and looked over the wyverns and their riders sharply, curious where they would go to next.

[Balcerzak]

Lt. Frederikov had acknowledged Borodin's command, and nodded at her departure to rendezvous with the enemy second in command. There was risk involved, but the general was no stranger to danger, and though on some level Iris might have preferred that such a courier job be performed by one such as herself, on others she recognized that it certainly wouldn't have made the same level of impact on the negotiations. Additionally, though her wyvern, Drake, was a fine animal and obedient steed, she couldn't but admit to feeling more comfortable with both feet on the ground... though with the way it had been shaking recently, even that was up in the air.

There was no objection, then as she saw Borodin off with a salute. Rather, Iris immediately went about her performing her duties diligently, patrolling the area and reaffirming to the ballisticians that they were still strictly on standby: at the ready to fire, but refraining from doing so until the command was given. There were pockets of restlessness, and in particular the one soldier who had jumped the gun earlier had the adjutant worried, but it seemed to be for naught, as the soldiers were all still content to follow their orders.

Iris had just put her hand to the breast pocket on her military overcoat, where she stored the doll linked with Borodin, thinking of probing it with a tiny bit of mana to make sure a link was still active, but certainly not enough to initiate a call, when she saw the general's wyvern coming in nearby for a landing. Smiling, she prepared herself for new orders. They were quickly given, and as she passed of the dolls coded for the two generals Borodin had asked for, the green and the white ones from among those she had been keeping at the ready, she also received Zolkov's in return. "<Zolkov wasn't... receptive then?" she inquired. "<A shame...>"

Edited by Balcerzak, 09 May 2011 - 12:53 PM.

[Phoenix]

Explaining Things

The mercenary army had just about pushed past Zolkov's brigade. Ivanko was cutting the path through for them while mentally going over ways to approach that dragon without losing dozens of men. Ixion was also mentally taxed from trying to determine the best way to neutralize the overwhelmingly massive beast. Victor only took his eyes off the dragon to kill the wyverns that approached. Anything that wasn't in subjection to him just needed to die, and so like his rider and the dark druid, he too was thinking up ways to approach and fight the dragon.

Ivanko cleaved another rider, and Victor gruesomely dealt with his rider before the path ahead of them began to clear. There weren't any other wyvern riders close enough to engage without altering course, and they had a clear flight to the palace. They had just cleared the main battle zone, and about fifty riders were right behind him, all IMs. Lev was in luck, since they were clear to make contact, but not in range of the dragon just yet. With the citadels in their current shape, one destroyed, the others in various stages of ruin, and the palace engines facing them holding fire, they didn't have to worry about any return fire fore the moment. Lev joined Ivanko's formation immediately during their approach to the palace.

Ivanko: Where have you been?

Lev: Hey, listen, I spoke to one of their brigadier generals, the one holding back fire from this side of the palace ...

Ixion: That explains it ...
Ivanko: That explains it ...

Lev: Her name's Borodin. She's willing to help us.

Ixion: I'm surprised. Not all of them are loyal to the royal family?

Lev: It's been twenty-five years, Ixion. Something like this was bound to happen. Not saying you should have planned for it though. If we came here expecting help and weren't prepared to go it alone if necessary we'd only have a fifty-fifty shot at actually winning.

Ixion: Hmm, I suspected alternative methods of maintaining loyalty since what's happening now if not prevented undermines their entire defense. Still, I needed to plan as though they had all applicable defenses covered and at full strength. I don't have any immediate objections to her offer.

Ivanko: I'd rather speak to her in person but right now there's that damn dra-

Lev interrupted by getting Ivanko's attention with the spirit doll he had received from Borodin by holding it up in the air.

Ivanko: ... heh. Alright, call her up. Tell her we're coming. Ixion, we're going in. Once you can make a distinction keep the chimeras off her units. Basically the ones that aren't trying to kill us.

Lev: Her men are manning many of the ballistas facing us, and the others are helping the citadel survivors if I heard right. She said she might also be able to win over other generals though I wouldn't count on it until this battle is in the bag already.

Ixion: Right, for now we hold fire against her until this gets sorted.

Lev: <Borodin, can you hear me? This is Levski ... ... he didn't say no ...>

[Mercakete]

The skies were fairly clear of Zaftran forces, but there were still those balaticians to worry about -- not to mention the dragon -- so Tas stayed low. He saw Lev rejoin Ivanko's formation and Kiev and Nikita were in-sight now, too. (Oh good...) Relief flooded over the courier, though he couldn't fly over to them safely just yet. They were too close to the balaticians and though Tas was fairly certain he could avoid any bolts fired, he didn't want to risk breaking the others' focuss. The battle had progressed to a point where he could safely investigate that lone woman, however, and so flew Namid over to her, landing close enough to talk comfortably.

"Well, that's all I can do," sighed the woman as she watched the skies. No one was falling anymore so they were all out of her range. She'd managed to save a good many wyverns and riders, though, even if she couldn't be sure which side was in the right. When the low-flying rider approched her and landed, she looked at him curiously. (Certainly not a seasoned warrior. His armor is only medium at best, too.) "Hello; what can I do for you?" she asked as she sat down on the bit of rubble she'd been standing on.

"Um... What?" Tas asked, confused by her carefree demeanor.

"I asked what I could do for you," she chuckled. Then she displayed her staff. "See? I can heal things. I can use light magic, too, but I don't want to take sides in this since I don't know who's in the right. Looks like a skirmish from down here. Oh hey! You know what's going on, don't you? What's your name, anyway?"

"Um, Tas. I'm Tas," he replied, still trying to figure out what to make of this woman. (She's out here in these ruins durring a revolution with no clue what's going on... Why is she out here in this frozen place in the first place?)

"Nice to meet you! I'm Raechel. Now, mind answering my question?"

"Uh, well, see those wyvern riders over there? The ones being led by the giant, gray one," Tas began to explain, pointing out Ivanko and his army.

"Mm-hmm mm-hmm. Some of them were hurt, but the ones who got low enough should be fine now," Raechel replied.

"Well, they're Ivanko's mercenaries. They're fighting the Zaftran royal army in a revolution because the current leadership is opressing the country," he explained.

"Oh, that doesn't help at all... I don't support revolutions, really, but this one seems to be in the best interests of the people... Oh, wait a minute! Does this mean I'm near Kalten?" she asked.

Tas had assumed she'd known where she was so this was a bit of a confusing question. "Well... Yes. ... Are you lost or something?"

"Eh, I just travel wherever the wind takes me. I was hoping to find some snow-dwelling nomads, but it doesn't look like they're going to show up, what with this revolution going on and all. Are you one of the mercenaries?"

(Well that explains things somewhat...) "No, but some of them are my friends. I came with them to help their morale." (A lot of good that's doing... I have to stay out of the way and they have to focuss on their jobs... I'm so useless...)

"You look like you need a morale-boost yourself," Raechel observed, "What's wrong?"

"I'm not used to fighting, really. I've seen a lot of battles in the past week or so -- well, nothing to compare with what everyone else here has seen, but more than I ever have before -- but I didn't expect thise kind of...disaster... That and I feel so useless and helpless. I can fly well, but if I tried to help them I'd only hurt them right now." The courier sighed, hanging his head for a moment before looking up to the battle again.

"Well, you're still supporting them. You came all the way here to watch a war, even though this must be horrifying for you. I'm sure they understand that and that in and of its self is a great reassurance," she replied, her smile reappearing.

"I hope so..."

"Hmm... Well, I've got a problem if that's the case." Her frown had returned as she looked towards the citadels. Tas looked up questioningly in the moment she'd paused before she continued, "My physic staff can't reach all the way over there from here, but I don't want to leave my horse behind. Not like I could get over there without wings anyway. I need to help these people, though. With all the destruction, there has to be just that many people who need help, after all, and a lot of them probably aren't even part of this conflict."

"Oh my-- You're right!" Tas hadn't even thought about that before.

"Is that your wyvern?" Raechel asked, indicating Namid.

"Um, yes... I'm a courier, so--"

"Perfect! If you're a courier, you can deliver my horse and me into the battle zone, right?" she asked, wirling around to face Tas exuberantly.

"W-what? No! I can't do that! I don't know if Namid could carry everything! I mean, two people, everything he's already carrying and a horse?! And into the battle zone?!" This woman was crazy.

Edited by Mercakete, 09 May 2011 - 06:36 PM.

[kdanger]

"<I can't tell what Zolkov's up to well enough to see if it's a good time to try contacting him, but it seemed clear that he is not one who would do as I asked,>" Borodin replied. As she was about to call one of the other generals, the new connection she'd acquired lit up. "<All right. I'll contact you once I've talked to the other generals,>" she told the mercenary. "<Is there anything about to happen I should be warned of?>"

[Phoenix]

Ambitious Men

Lev: <Yeah, once that dragon is dealt with, the palace is going to be getting hit from the roof section. We've got the most room to maneuver there, so that's where we're headed. Speaking of which, is there anything you can tell us about this big guy before we take him on? Right now we're looking at substantial casualties, and we want to keep our chimera reliance during the final stages of the battle to a minimum.>

Ixion: The gigasi can't off load the mercenaries into the citadels because their structural integrity is questionable at best, and any routes to the palace may have already collapsed. Burrowing into the palace is also a great risk, so from here we may have to rely strictly on the chimeras, or prolong the battle with aerial drop offs.

Ivanko: I'm in favor of the latter. I didn't bring these guys to sit back and watch from the bottom of the mountain, and you know what will happen if they think chimeras did this and not men.

Ixion: Understood. I'll withdraw the gigasi to the bottom of the mountain to offload the mercenaries and then send them back underground. It will be up to our fliers to get them up here though. As for the citadels and any supplies therein, I think we should consider those lost for the time being. Too much of a risk raiding by tunnels or by air even after the battle.

Lev: <We're leaving the citadels alone, too much chance of a sudden collapse. Nothing else relevant at the moment, Borodin.>

Ivanko: Borodin, huh? Tell her we're getting ready to kick the door in so stay out of the way.

Lev: <Uh ... stay away from any doors ....>

[kdanger]

"<I can't really give any advice on the dragon,>" Borodin replied. "<If you could disable the flames or that might be of use, but that will be difficult. An explosion near his head might stun him, at least.>" Again she felt some regret at helping the invaders take down an old friend, but the lives of the people outweighed that. "<I'll work on bringing the other generals around now.>"

Closing that connection, she took the doll linked to General Makalov from Iris. "<This is Borodin,>" she said by way of greeting. "<How is the situation with your troops?>"

[Phoenix]

Makalov

The battle thus far had gone quite poorly for the Zaftrans, and every one of them that was still alive knew it. Makalov's men had been stationed in the northeastern citadel, but had to evacuate by air and through the tunnels. They had begun their retreat the moment the gigas burst up through the mountain and into the complex. The inconceivable amount of damage to the lower floors made escaping through the tunnels all but impossible, and men had to go through the rubble one at a time, a rate that threatened to see only a quarter of them escape to the palace before the whole thing came crashing down on top of them.

Makalove himself had been on one of the top floors and so was spared from much of the destruction. He still had to evacuate by air or risk dying if the citadel collapsed under its own weight. By the time he was safely in the air his spirit doll linking him to Borodin lit up and he took it up giving it a fearful look.

Makalov: <This is ... I can't even ... Grrrrr how on earth did this happeeeen?! Where in the hell did those monstrosities come frooom?! She knew about this! She must have!>

After venting, he spoke through the spirit doll directly.

Makalov: <Brigadier General Borodin, is this why you came to me before? Because you knew they had this kind of power at their disposal? Half of my men are airborne, fleeing as passengers from the citadel. Anyone else that survived is heading through the tunnels back to the palace. I can only account for a little less than half of them right now.>

Enter The Dragon

As the wyvern riders began to overpower the Zaftran opposition, the palace came back into view. So many of the Zaftrans had been isolated during the fighting, that they had no choice but to scatter and distance themselves from the battle or face no less than three mercenaries at a time, a grim proposition, and almost none of them tried it. Those that did perished, and the survivors tried to regroup elsewhere to prepare for a counterattack.

The now victorious wyvern riders formed up behind Ivanko as he led them toward the roof of the palace, the first position they had to take to win the battle. Waiting for them and standing firmly in their path however was Orteiga. Before Ivanko could lay out a plan of attack, Orteiga opened his jaws wide and let loose an overwhelmingly massive burst of flame. It was wide enough to completely engulf a small building, and Ivanko and his riders scattered to avoid it. Still thirteen riders were caught in the flames and died of all those directly in its path. Reforming with that kind of power being aimed at them was unwise, and Ivanko quickly gave the others the signal to stay spread out. Losing that many riders in one attack again was not going to happen if he could help it.

Ivanko: Well, this should be interesting.

Looking down to Victor and tapping the bull on the neck to get his attention, Ivanko gave the mount rebellious mount a stern look. Victor gave him the usual look of begrudging tolerance.

Ivanko: Listen up, Victor. We don't back down from this. We kill this thing, or this is where we die, and mark my words, that dragon will kill us if we don't work together. Now I need you for this, alright? You're not going to be able to kill him without me, and I'm not going to be able to kill him without you, so for the moment, screw this master servant, crap. I need a partner for this battle, understand?

Victor's eyes somewhat lost their hateful glare for a moment. Ivanko's words, not all of them he knew very well, but none of it made any kind of sense to him at first. Ivanko was speaking to him like some of the others under him had spoken to their wyverns, mostly his children. They weren't nearly as domineering as Ivanko was, but now he was acting like them. What the hell was going on?

Ivanko: You see that thing over there?

Ivanko pointed toward Orteiga as they approached and Victor eyed the beast.

Ivanko: He's stronger than you are. He's stronger than I am. He's going to kill us both. If you don't want to get fried by that thing, then we need each other, understand?

A truce? Ivanko wanted to coordinate rather than dominate for the purpose of defeating the super wyvern? That made plenty of sense to Victor, and despite his hatred for Ivanko, he didn't want to test his luck against the fire breather. What he wanted was to maim it, and drive it from the land and claim it for himself. Better yet, if the dragon was smart, it would not only back down, but answer to him. If it wouldn't, he would make sure it died. He would need Ivanko's help for this, so he snorted at the man and turned his attention to the super wyvern. This was going to be one hell of a battle.

OOC:

Spoiler ()

Can't write the rest tonight. Too much stuff is happening. Will pick up the rest later.

[Balcerzak]

"<I can't really give any advice on the dragon,>" Borodin had said, and that caused Iris to frown a bit. The general had wrapped things up with the mercenary second then, and had begun talking to one of the other generals in her next spirit doll conversation, leaving her to consider the options. The adjutant had assumed that there had been some grand plan already set in place. Without it, this defection was a lot closer to a mad scheme that she would really have preferred. Cause an explosion by his head... she pondered. I really hope she isn't counting on me for that, something tells me fighting fire with fire would be... less than effective. I mean, I'd be up against /dragonfire/ here.

A bit unnerved, and honestly hoping the mercenaries would be the ones bearing the brunt of the difficulty in that particular encounter, Lt. Frederikov nonetheless began frantically trying to come up with any sort of contingency, some way in which she might manage to leverage her talents that could conceivably have any noticeable effect. Anything with the least amount of elaborate or suspicious preparation time involved to pull it off, well that would be for the best

Edited by Balcerzak, 16 May 2011 - 11:01 AM.

[kdanger]

"<I didn't know exactly what they were up to, but I suspected something like this,>" Borodin told the other general. She'd thought he'd been holed up in the palace... she supposed that in the citadel, he at least would be out of the way. "<The imperials aren't going to win. Call off anyone you have in the fight and concentrate on reducing casualties,>" she told him. With that command issued, she closed the connection.

She still had two more contacts to call, but seeing the mercenary leader head for the dragon, she realized that she needed to handle her own troops now. She got out the dolls to Kouriatov and Ilyushin. "<Orders,>" she said into them.

"<Yes?>" came the reply, in stereo.

"<You're both to get all your troops inside the building. Inside, not out on the walls. Anyone with medical knowledge needs to be ready to use it.

"<The mercenaries are going to be entering the fortress soon. Do not engage them. If it's possible to do so, disable but DO NOT kill any imperial soldiers who try to fight them off. Give the mercenaries access to supplies if they need them. Healers are to aid both sides. When those orders have been transmitted, I want you both to take your best and start on the imperial guard. Be quiet and careful.>"

"<Understood.>" "<Yes, ma'am.>"

She turned to face her troops on the wall. "<We're leaving the engines open,>" she announced, and repeated the same orders she'd just given, omitting the part about the imperial guard. "<Get inside. I'll be in soon enough.>" As she watched the battle between the huge wyvern and the much bigger dragon begin, she got out the callers to the other two generals who had been potential allies.

[Mercakete]

The discussion consisiting of Raechel insisting that her horse couldn't possibly weigh too much for Namid to carry and Tas' continuous referring to the task as impossible under the present circumstances was interrupted by a stream of fire in the sky, causing man, woman and wyvern to look up at the bright flame. Some, Raechel managed to heal as they fell. Others, she could tell, were already dead and there was nothing she could do for them.

"See? That's what I mean! There is no way Namid could carry us all over there! It slows us down way too much!" Tas insisted.

"But that is why I must go," Raechel replied, just as fervrent, "People are dying, Tas. I can heal them. Don't you understand that? Don't you care?"

Of course Tas cared. As justified and necessary as he knew this removal of the imperial family was, he still privately agonized over how many were dying, dead and going to die. It seemed so ruthless but...there was no other way. As much as he'd like to ferry her over... "...Namid can't carry you. I can't get close enough. We'd die and then nothing would be acomplished. We have to live. That means waiting. It's hard for me, too. I have friends who are in danger, but the best thing I can do for them is to stay low until that dragon is taken care of and I can see I won't be fired at. I'll try to take you over the walls then."

"... You have a lot of sense, boy. ... That can't be healthy."

Tas' only reply was a sympathetic half-smile. Waiting was hard, but it was something both of them had to do.

[Phoenix]

The Vanguard

Orteiga singled out Ivanko and Victor as he prepared another fire blast. When he let loose the flames at them, Victor slipped under the attack easily and continued a wide approach. The other wyvern riders had to keep their distance, for even Victor was cutting it close with his evades and he was the fastest out of all of them save for one. Ixion rode atop Stratos as she circled around the other way. Whether Orteiga knew they were coming was uncertain, but Ixion wasn't going to leave this solely up to Ivanko.

Ixion: (This dragon is powerful but it only has one head. It won't be able to focus on two different targets at long range that are this far removed from one another, though I find it irritating that we may to subdue this dragon with bug bites rather than a decisive attack. We won't know how tough he is until Victor gets a hold of him.)

Another attack came, and Victor climbed over the flames and made a rapid turn toward the dragon. He was close enough to launch an assault now and wasted no time between attacks. Ivanko was ready as well raising up his sword. Orteiga quickly shot at them again, and this time Victor had far less time to dodge and his wing was grazed by the flames. Still their approach was successful and Victor collided with Orteiga's head knocking the dragon off balance!

The bull wyvern quickly grabbed on as tightly as he could with his claws and bit down on the dragon's head, nearly piercing one of his eyes. Ivanko leaped from the saddle and drove his sword down through Orteiga's skull as deep as he possibly could shouting through the attack. Orteiga didn't fall and instead began shaking his head rapidly to get them off.

Ivanko: Vic! Break off the attack! We need to get some distance.

Victor tried his hardest to tear off a piece of Orteiga's face but only Ivanko's weapons seemed capable of piercing the dragon's bones, and Orteiga quickly used his right paw to begin prying away at Victor. Blood from both beasts was flowing in large amounts before the dragon finally got the wyvern off. Slamming Victor down on his back, he reared back his head ready to try and incinerate the bull one more time. Ivanko leaped down from Orteiga's head with his sword in hand and ran it into the dragon's right eye both halting the dragon's attack, and anchoring himself high above Victor, who was still trying to get out from under the enemy's paw.

Orteiga let loose a loud scream, and a burst of fire came out with it, the heat alone nearly cooking Ivanko alive. He let go of his sword and descended toward his wyvern who had just muscled his way free of the dragon's paw. Rising up to catch Ivanko, they quickly arrived at the dragon's head again. Ivanko aimed to retrieve his sword but that would have to wait, as the dragon readied another blast that they couldn't possibly dodge this time. They're only chance was to strike first, and Ivanko took out his tomahawk as he stood up at the edge of the saddle. Victor moved below Orteiga's head and bit down on his neck as hard as he could, while Ivanko jumped up to send the axe straight down the dragon's throat.

Ixion finally closed in and the dragon summoned yet another burst of fire aiming to get at least Ivanko. Ivanko threw his axe and was rescued from the attack by Ixion and Stratos, the flames just barely missing them. The hand axe became lodged in Orteiga's throat for only a few seconds before the sheer heat reduced it to molten metal. Victor didn't relent for a moment in his assault, using every limb available to swat, tear at, and scratch away at the dragon's thick hide. Not until Ivanko and Ixion flew back around for another pass did Orteiga finally manage to get Victor off of himself. As Victor landed right in front of him, Orteiga unleashed a flame assault at the bull that nearly engulfed him. He took off and turned to put distance between them, but Orteiga didn't let up, and kept firing shots at him until the tip of his wing was struck. Victor cried out in pain but kept airborne, even with the tip of his wing set ablaze.

As Victor passed, Ivanko leaped back into the saddle and tried to ignore Victor's injury just as Victor himself was. They turned to face the dragon again and started their next approach. Orteiga relented only because he felt his attack would have kept Victor busy long enough for him to assess his own damage. It wasn't good. His neck was more than just a little bloody. There were punctures and open gashes everywhere, each pouring blood out onto the ground beneath him.

Zolkov had had enough and aimed to stop them before Orteiga was compromised and took to the air on his wyvern. He bought Orteiga time to ready himself by flying in front of the dragon and intercepting Ivanko and Victor. The two exchange a blow each during their high speed pass, and Victor failed to kill Zolkov's wyvern. Ixion and Stratos slipped right by them however, and the Dark Druid unleashed an attack of his own that struck Orteiga's only remaining eye.

Ixion: That should reduce his accuracy considerably ... now if we're fortunate, he won't begin desperately taking potshots at us.

Orteiga opened his eye fighting against the tremendous pain and found that he wasn't completely blind, only that a hideous coating of dark energy and blood was making it nearly impossible to distinguish friend from foe. He could still see the one that took the shot however and let loose the greatest and largest fire attack that had been launched since the start of the battle. It was too large to possibly remove oneself from and Ixion instead drew up as much energy as he could erecting the most powerful barrier he could manage. It was so concentrated neither he nor Stratos could be seen through it. The flames engulfed them and when the attack subsided, the barrier fell apart revealing a slightly singed Ixion and Stratos. Ixion's face ran with sweat, and Stratos was swatting at her own nose to get the awful smell of charred flesh out.

Ixion: It's not enough yet ... and I doubt I'll be able to catch him with his guard down again. (That took everything I had ... and more ...)

Zolkov followed behind Ivanko and Victor as they approached Orteiga again but couldn't close the distance in time. Ivanko swung hard and cut a huge gash along Orteiga's cheek as they passed, sending the dragon into frenzy of head shaking and roaring. Zolkov followed right behind them passing Orteiga and readying his sword. As Ivanko and Victor came around for yet another pass, Zolkov was ready for them and veered off course to try and flank them. Victor kept his eye on the dragon, and Ivanko prepared to counter Zolkov just in case. The wyvern lord came in hard and fast but Ivanko didn't attempt to block his attack. Instead he swung wide and chopped off a piece of Zolkov's wyvern's wing, while Zolkov landed an attack that nearly took Ivanko's head. The mercenary leader was only nicked though, and Victor wasted no time in biting down on the wyvern's tail and yanking it which threw Zolkov off.

The Zaftran wyvern lord grabbed onto his wyvern's head and hung on as Victor flung them away and continued his approach toward the dragon. So pained by his bloodied wing injury, Zolkov's wyvern began to descend toward the ground Orteiga stood on, not wanting to continue fighting.

Zolkov: <IT'S NOT OVER YET!!! WE HAVE TO PRESS ON!!! DO NOT GIVE UP!!!>

The wyvern heard and fought through the pain to remain airborne, even with a wing that was barely holding together, and raining blood down over the mountain at an alarming rate. Zolkov wasn't going to give up. In his mind, defeating Ivanko would end the battle, and with the mercenary leader right before him, he could not yield or back down. He would die first.

Zolkov: IVAAAANKOOOOOOOO!!!

The mercenary leader glanced back at the approaching Zolkov and glared. Behind them was the zealot, and before them was the dragon.

Ivanko: We need to finish the both of them, and quick.

[kdanger]

disregard this post, it broke physics

Edited by Kiryn, 17 May 2011 - 10:16 PM.