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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/3CCYbok.png[/img][/center]
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[center][b]Interacting with:[/b] The Nashorn[@Force and Fury] | Hildr [@Jasbraq]
[b]Opportunity:[/b] Eskand-aligned Players - Slay the Dragon[hr]
[b]Event:[/b] Fields of Fire | Looking for Gold [b]Location:[/b] Between Relouse and Chamonix | Wandering Mountain[hr][/center]
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The prisoner exchange had left a bad taste in her mouth, her interrogation skills needed work. It was easier with animals, they didn’t talk, just relied on instinct. Ulfhild had felt the same eeriness that she expected the Nashorn to have already felt, they weren’t alone in this journey. Taking a page from his book, she extended her hand and motioned him to follow, with her fist shooting a finger out in the direction of the other house where she last saw Hildr. It wasn’t too long before she could smell the scent of her. [color=3cb371]“Over here”[/color] ensuring that she had found the house. 

Hildr’s despair grew as the amount of survivors found became more grim by the house. It truly already was a miracle these people survived… Yet there must be more, there must be. Her hearing was being cluttered with the sounds of burning fields and houses, it was enough to cause a damned headache. [color=white]“This is not combat, this is slaughter… savagery”[/color] How could she have been so blind before? 

The Nashorn pushed open the door and, inside, he beheld weakness. The pretty drudgunzean, Hildr, looked like she was having a breakdown. He crossed his arms and waited in the doorway. Ulfhild would explain matters. Hildr would come or she would not. Regardless, he would leave after two minutes. Already, he could see a small party racing ahead and it occurred to him that he should stop them, but it would be better to let them do the work first. 

The Nashorn always went first, which alleviated much of the jump scares and ambushes Ulfhild would otherwise be susceptible to. The relief was short lived when she saw how shaken Hildr had been from the bodies laid waste around her. It could not have been easy for her to be torn between two fealties. While Ulfhild didn’t understand it, she said nothing. Instead she walked over and rested her arm on her shoulder. [color=3cb371]“The outcome of war, nothing more”[/color] she said, perhaps a bit harsh and reductive, but they hadn’t time to dawdle. It had been years since the two had proper time to sit and catch up, the festivities after the war was the closest they had been. [color=3cb371]“It’s time to go now, there’s a party ahead.”[/color]

[color=white]“This isn’t war…. This is nothing but senseless slaughter!”[/color] The tone of Ulfhild’s voice ticked her off, although hearing it from an old acquaintance made it hit a little less hard. [color=white]“A party ahead? Isn’t the main force still raiding the village?”[/color] The Drudgunzean was rather confused before getting her mind ready for potential combat. [color=white]“If I can be of assistance to an old friend, I will do what I can.”[/color] 

Hildr wasn’t wrong, it was provisional genocide, but nothing she could say would make the bitter taste easier to digest. Her hand tightened its grip on her shoulder in accordance. [color=3cb371]“We..I don’t know who they are and of their loyalty. All we know is the gold from this village is up there and a malevolent force that threatens to kill us, with it”[/color] Ulfhild sighed as Hildr acquiesced, [color=3cb371]“Thank you, I hope they sing of our victory here today.”[/color]

The Nashorn merely snorted. Nobody would sing of this part. It would be the battles to come when they snuck past this Parrench army, met up with the king, and took Chamonix. This was merely the lead-up: the preparation. It was almost as if Hildr had thought that war was glorious. Only the big victories and the stories about them made it seem so. It looked as if the two women were ready to leave, so he turned and began walking, down a road that became a trail, long and winding, and up the dark, hulking shape of a small mountain that had ominously started to trickle smoke.

Ulfhild had grown accustomed to the Nashorn’s ways and she wasn’t about to be left behind by the massive brute. She grabbed Hildr’s hand and pulled her forward, out of the rut that the bodies had cast upon her. A hulk of a woman truly, being pulled by a girl slightly smaller than her, a bit odd. The disturbed woman’s words began to ring true, with all ominous smoke descending upon them. During this time Ulfhild relayed the information they had [i]acquired[/i] from the blond Parrenchwoman. 

[color=white]"A malevolent force threatens to kill us? What nonsense! If they had such a beast, why not use it before?"[/color] Hildr felt somewhat insulted, not understanding the full tale. [color=white]"And the word of a little girl is trustworthy? Girls that age are prone to lie, you know?"[/color] The taller woman still let herself be dragged along by the other. Moments later Hildr stood completely still, showing a rather serious look. [color=white]"Ulfhild, I don't know if we could stop it."[/color]

For his part, the Nashorn ignored Hildr’s blathering. She had supposedly slain a mighty dragon once, alongside his king. She was supposedly a great warrior. She was supposedly strong in deed and faith. He continued walking. Perhaps he would stop the beast and perhaps he would die a glorious death and take his seat in Gronhalle. Did it really matter? There would be much gold there, at least.

They were making little in the way of progress, constantly having to stop to reassure Hildr. It was a hesitation she had never known from the mighty heroine. Parrence’s alliance had been sapping her of her savagery. Having traveled with the Nashorn enough she could sense his impatience despite his very stoic bravado or was it simply constant rage. [color=3cb371]“This girl wasn’t begging for her life, there was no reason for her to lie”[/color] For his part, the giant of a man added a tight nod and continued, pointing ahead with borderline impatience. Ulfhild’s cheeks pulled the sides of her mouth into a puzzled position, [color=3cb371]“We [i]will[/i] stop it, besides when has a little skirmish stopped you. Or the Æresvaktr before? Dragonslayer.”[/color]

To think she was so blind. Now was not the time to worry whether she could or not defeat it. [color=white]“To think a lil pup is the one encouraging me, It’s absurd!”[/color] The weak willed Drudgunzean used her own force to slap some sense into herself, soon recovering from her self-inflicted trauma with a confident smile on her face. [color=white]“To think I am still known as Dragonslayer after all these years, hearing it pumped some life into my heart.”[/color] The dragonslayer hit Ulfhild’s back roughly. [color=white]“But you’re right. A skirmish is but child’s play compared to back then.”[/color]

The Nashorn, some length ahead of the two women, stopped in his tracks, then. They were a good ways up the mountain and the late afternoon sun burned golden in their eyes. Faintly, amplifying the sound by use of the Gift, he could hear it: shouting. If he heard, then Ulfhild surely did as well. He reached out with his senses and could feel them, then: a small party of three barreling towards them from around the mountain. Looking up through the slit in his visor he saw a massive lance of flame shoot out from around the bend. Three young fools rushed towards him, only slowing somewhat in his presence, for whatever lay behind them they believed even more terrifying than the Nashorn. For that offense, he called upon Force magic to lift them from the ground, thrashing and protesting. Forcefully, he pointed in the direction from whence they’d come and answers came pouring out. [u][i][b]“A dragon!”[/b][/i][/u] screamed one. [u][i][b]“Volcanic one!”[/b][/i][/u] added another. [u][i][b]“It’s enormous!” [/b][/i][/u]

With no time for cowards, he simply let them fall to the ground as he stalked forward. Then, the ground beneath him shook and the mountain itself burst open. He could [i]feel[/i] it now: the colossal heat, the size, the motion of the beast. His heart pounded with the challenge and, perhaps, even more.

What was it with Eskandr’s walloping her like a rag doll. The wind nearly knocked out of her lungs from Hildr’s slap to the back had caught her off guard. [color=3cb371]“There’s the Hildr I remember. Maybe when we get back we can tell Kol-”[/color] her sentence was cut short. Heat unlike any other felt hot on her back. She turned to see what was making such noise and heat, but was met with a band of three running for their lives. The Nashorn pacified them quickly with his magic, demanding answers with no more than a digit. Unlike the Parrenchwoman, these men had loose tongues. [color=3cb371]“A fucking dragon? That’s what she was on about? Looks like you’re going to be a two time slayer today, Hild”[/color]

[color=white]“Two time slayer, eh? Guess I do have something to brag to Hrothgar then!”[/color] She smacked her chest out of hubris, spitting on the ground with a sly grin. [color=white]“That bastard was way too cocky when he got the killing blow.”[/color] The Drudgunzean unsheathed her blades, holding them loosely to measure the weight of them. [color=white]“I still prefer my own pair, but these are better than the brittle ones I had to use during the last battle.”[/color] It does seem like the woman’s old warrior spirit has rekindled to an extent. 

The three warriors - two men and a woman in their teens and twenties - scrambled to their feet. “You had best run,” advised the woman, hurrying past Ulfhild and Hildr. “You are mighty,” added the younger of the men, “but it is mightier.”

Again, the mountain shuddered, and the Nashorn disappeared around the corner. They could feel the colossal amount of energy that he was drawing but, as they drew nearer, the sheer power of the dragon was overwhelming, pressing down on them, making them want to hurl the contents of their last meals into the dirt. No sooner had they started to recover from the sheer shock of the sensation than the air was split by a blood curdling howl. The top of the mountain erupted in a shower of stone and half-cooled magma. Thick dark smoke poured out as if from a wound gouged out of the very earth itself. Grand black wings spread over two hundred feet and a pillar of fire leapt into the heavens. 


Their advice was welcomed, but Ulfhild had no intention of tucking tail and running. This would be the greatest hunt of them all and she could be put heads and shoulders above the rest of the hunters including Vali. Instead she draped an arrow from her quiver onto her bow and ran up that hill. Turning the corner her legs immediately turned into cement. The presence of the dragon tethered her to the corner right behind the Nashorn. The shower of fiery rock and magma littered the sky. [color=3cb371]“Move damn it!”[/color] she shouted, punching her thighs. They finally gave way to her command at the last second possible. She managed to dodge magma, but a hot stone grazed her leg, she cursed at the sky. 

The massive Æresvaktr raised his shield and sheltered under it as a sizable boulder slammed into him. Still, so strong was The Nashorn that his response was little more than a grunt. Further rubble and boulders cascaded down the mountainside, and the lead pair quickly lost sight of Hildr. They could only trust that someone so capable would not fall prey to mere rocks. They were - at least temporarily - on their own, not that it seemed to bother The Nashorn. With a barely-human roar, he lifted three mighty boulders using Force magic and hurled them at the beast.

One missed, It leapt aside from the second, and the third was melted by the dragon’s breath as it flew. Then, with a few beats of its colossal wings, the beast lifted into the sunset sky, preparing to unleash again.

There was setting a standard and then there was an Æresvaktr setting a standard. Ulfhild wasn’t nearly as grotesquely strong as The Nashorn and so she would not be demonstrating any feats of strength such as he with the boulders. She kind of felt lame in comparison seeing as she only had her bow. Arcane arrows wouldn’t be much use at the moment since heat would probably help the dragon. Instead she condensed as much force into the tip of an arrow and shot it towards the dragon, hoping to loosen some of its scaling. 

A mere arrow seemed inconsequential enough for the massive Monsigneus to ignore, and it did not even attempt to evade or block. Perhaps it hadn’t noticed or perhaps it simply didn’t care. Whatever the cause, Ulfhild’s arrow struck true, hammering into scales harder than the hardest of steels. Were it a normal arrow, this would’ve been a moral victory at best, the pointed tip bouncing harmlessly off but, empowered as it was, it skidded along the dragonskin, embedding its tip between a pair of scales. The tremendous reptile roared in annoyance and contorted, brushing the projectile free. Then, it turned its ire on Ulfhild and plunged for her.

Ulfhild puffed her chest out with a mix of adrenaline and fear. She wanted the brute to charge her, this was no beast to prod lightly. Biding her time for the perfect moment she skidded to the side of the beast. The quaking of the earth from the flap of its wings was enough to unbalance her and keep her body shackled by gravity. Once it passed she jumped up and shot another arrow, this time a bit corrosive in nature in hopes it might eat away at the formidable scales. 

The Monsigneus had not grown to be so great and ancient by being stupid, however, and it recognized the threat this time, blasting the arrows out of the sky and forcing both Æresvaktr to take cover. For his part, The Nashorn had drawn a tremendous amount from the flames and he put this into a two-handed swing that aimed to cut one of the dragon’s wings off. Instead, he was forced to hurl himself aside as its serpentine neck snaked around and tried to snap him up like a morsel. His blow took it only glancingly in the side of the head, and it roared, snapped in displeasure and circled off into the sky, coming about after a moment for more. 

Meanwhile, Hildlr had been fighting in isolation, having to contend with the dragon every time that it reached the end of one of its arcs and swooped back. 

The Drudgunzean grunted faintly from the gust of wind hitting her back, even blowing off her helmet. Now isolated from the others, a smile would appear on the knight. Being able to have some alone time with the beast was not something she had hoped for but better to make the best of a bad situation. 

The Dragon let out an ear-piercing roar as it breathed a massive amount of fyre her way. The flames scorched her cloth as the woman tried her hardest to draw the power from it, periodically boosting her speed and strength. An opportunity opened itself for her as the beast swooped in. The attack targets a point often left exposed and it strikes true. The Monsigneus reared back, letting out a yelping roar of discomfort as the empowered blade struck it close to an exposed finger, punching through its wing membrane.

Swooping in, the creature grabs Hildr in its massive jaws. However, she is able to blunt the crushing force and resist the dagger like teeth by use of powerful force and essence magic, drawing from the power of its bite. Unable to do any severe damage, it settles for dropping her.... from a great height. The woman fell from a great height as the beast let go of her, landing on some of the branches from a scraggly tree. Yelling out in pain as the fall caused her wrist and shoulder to give way.

Now fully unleashed, the colossal animal decides to seek out easier prey. Grand black wings blot out a patch of the remaining light and it circles in the dusky sky, letting out a guttural roar. The Nashorn pulls at it with Force. Ulfhild fires off more arrows, and Hildr rises painfully to her feet, but they cannot dissuade it from its course. The dragon begins moving south, towards the village, towards the large force of Eskandr raiders and, unbeknownst to the southmen, the approaching army of Queen Eleanor.

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