Tamaranis Posted March 8, 2003 Report Posted March 8, 2003 Belshayou Keldanstorn saw her opportunity to strike as Kokuryuu shifted in the form of a hyena. The olfactory organs of the new form, more sensitive even than those of a dragon, immediately picked up the scent of the blue, but now it would be too late. The physically inferior hyena would be killed, ending the mighty Kokuryuu, and then there would only be Deleo to deal with. The mortals would be accidently crushed during the fighting likely as not. Heeding Kokuryuu's words, the other three members of the party searched for whatever it was she had detected, but none of them saw anything until electrical currents were arcing in and around the blue's mouth in an immediate precursor to attack. In an instinctive and foolish move, Robby attempted to interpose himself between the attacker and her target. He reached out, hoping that perhaps if he placed an arm in the bolt's path it would be conducted through his body rather than the air. Fortunately for him he reacted ever so slightly too slow. Artificial as it was, his body wouldn't have withstood so much current coursing through it. Also fortunately, Kokuryuu reacted faster. A lesser shifter wouldn't have survived, as there was only a few precious instants in which to change, but Kokuryuu had nearly fully adopted her true form in all its glory when the lightning struck her. She shuddered in pain and seemed to half collapse as her muscles locked up in response to the electrical attack, but the natural resilience of her kind prevented her from being killed. Had she fully understood the danger posed by the mortals, Belshayou might have switched her point of aim in an effort to kill one or both of them before they could retaliate. Instead she kept all the power of her attack focussed against Kokuryuu, and while the single bolt wouldn't kill the halfbreed, it would at least ensure that she would be unable to immediately participate in the battle. This time Robby wasn't confident that the two dragons who were seemingly on his side could win the fight unaided. Kokuryuu was still injured from her battle with Bixelinthrix, and had just suffered the full force of the blue dragon's attack. Deleo had also been hurt badly somewhat recently and had just participated in a duel to the death with another dragon. Come to think of it Gyrfalcon didn't seem to have yet recovered from his use of magic, Robby was the only person on their side not starting this fight with a disadvantage. *CRACK* Belshayou had assumed the small man sprinting towards her was mad, and paid him little heed as she expelled the last of her lightning bolt at Kokuryuu, but when he reached her and she dropped her head in order to simply devour him he had somehow managed to slip under her mouth... And then something struck her in the jaw, very hard, hard enough to knock her head upward and away from the little man. It took her a moment to realize the impossible, that the little mortal had somehow struck that blow. Upon realization, however, her pain was immediately replaced with rage.
Gyrfalcon Posted March 19, 2003 Report Posted March 19, 2003 Gyrfalcon raced forward to support Robby, wondering what the small unarmed man could do against the armored bulk of a dragon. The half-elf slowed as he saw the dragon’s head snap upward as if a giant had struck the blow, not the small man. What the hell is he? the half-elf asked himself, for he didn’t think that even magical enhancements could help someone deliver that sort of power. The half-elf stopped musing, though, as the dragon turned and batted Robby into the wall with one sweep of her tail. Gyrfalcon jumped the tip of the tail as it passed under him, then ran forward, katana leading. The blue dragon’s scales held against the first blow, then the second and third, though each time the katana scarred the heavy scales, to Belshayou’s consternation. Turning, she tried to swipe the half-elf with her tail as well, but the ranger saw the move coming and managed to jump above the sweep of the tail. He came down with his katana leading, and he penetrated her scales, stabbing deep into her leg. Belshayou roared in pain and craned her neck to bite at the half-elf, planning to rip him into dozens of little pieces, just to begin!
Tamaranis Posted March 23, 2003 Report Posted March 23, 2003 Robby had been so completely occupied with avoiding the dragon's teeth and claws that he made the error of ignoring the threat posed by her tail. He saw the end of it coming towards him, propelled at incredible speed by the muscle along the whole of it, too late to avoid the attack. Robby tried to generate a counter-force, but there wasn't time even to properly do that. The tail collided neatly with his center of mass, easily lobbing him through the air. Just as he gathered his wits enough to think about trying to land without further injury, Robby struck the stone of the cave opening, blasting from his lungs the little air they had recovered. The pain, both from being struck by Belshayou's tail and from striking the wall, tried to keep Robby from rejoining the fight. As he slid down the wall and his feet struck the ground he had to struggle for a moment to keep them. The collision had been so kind as to leave his spine intact, but battered muscles seemed determined to ignore him. Surely ribs must have been broken, but Robby couldn't be sure which ones, it felt as if his whole torso were being crushed. Belshayou's tactic, however, seemed to be to stun her opponents so that she could face them one at a time. If she were allowed to do that, she might well kill them all. Robby only stayed slumped against the wall for a moment, then, grimacing as the pain of his injuries seemed to double, he sprinted full speed to again attack the dragon.
The Big Pointy One Posted April 2, 2003 Report Posted April 2, 2003 Just as Robby rushed at Belshayou, the tiniest of feet scampered across the stone ground. Deleo had shifted into a mouse in the chance that'd he'd sneak by the mighty blue unnoticed so he could spring a suprise attack on they party's occupied foe. He had wished he could manage some sort of healing spell for Kokuryuu, but he couldn't even muster a cantrip that'd be useful in that area. Rushing to the lip of the ledge which Belshayou was currently perched, Deleo suddenly got an isidious idea for his attack. He leapt into the air, his tiny body carrying into the wind. He let himself plummet for a quick moment and then he reverted back to his dragon form, feet below the entrance to the cave. Sucking in as much air as he could, and gathering his draconic acid from the pits of his stomach, Deleo hurled a large burst of acid straight at the ledge beneath the blue dragon, hoping that if nothing else, he could knock their mighty foe off-balance...
Tamaranis Posted April 19, 2003 Report Posted April 19, 2003 OOC: if no one else is going to post, then I will. Robby launched himself into the air and drove the heel of his foot into the side of Belshayou's head with all his strength, and summoned all the force he could muster and add to the attack. As before, to the casual observer, physics would have seemed to have lost all authority. The massive and enraged dragon should hardly have noticed the impact generated by a small man kicking her in the head, but she definately did. Another bolt of lightning went wide. Unfortunately Robby's second guess as to the vulnerable spots on a dragons head proved as wrong as the first, and Belshayou didn't seem to be seriously injured. If he couldn't find vulernable spots, Robby realized, he was going to have to break bones, and that was proving even more difficult than he'd imagined it would be. None of the combants noticed the earth begining to ever so slightly shift beneath their feet. Gyrfalcon's swordsmanship was dazzling, his blade was ever a blur, it was doubtful any mortal swordsman could be greater. Robby's hands moved with similar speed, when they struck it was as if he were wielding warhammers. Belshayou, however was a dragon, and easily met the furious assult from the two mortals with nothing more than rage, hate, and overwhelming physical power. Both mortals began to wonder why Deleo hadn't intervened yet, and as if in answer, the earth began to move in earnest. So wrapped up was she in her anger, that Belshayou didn't notice when the earth on which she stood began to tilt towards open air. Robby and Gyrfalcon did, and quickly made a short retreat. Belshayou thought that finally the two small mortals had realized the futility of their attack, and she moved to advance on them, but found her footing suddenly uneven, and started falling away. With Belshayou's attention focussed entirely on not becoming part of a small landslide, there was a brief but shining opportunity for her opponents. Gyrfalcon quickly assesed which portions of the ledge appeared most stable, and ran alongside Belshayou along the sturdiest available piece of ground. Not needing to place any concern with his own defence, he drove his katana into the dragoness' underside with a single powerful thrust. As she fell away the blue's momentum tore the wound wider than Gyrfalcon's strength alone could have achieved. Indeed his katana was nearly ripped from his grasp, and in pulling it free Gyrfalcon was nearly pulled along with the dragon into a deadly plumit. The sudden, overwhelming pain caused the Belshayou's outstretched wings to freeze in place for a few critical moments. As she fell, gravel and stone engulfed her legs, and by the time she again attempted to escape it was too late to do anything but futilly scramble against gravity. Uncerimoniously, Belshayou and several tons of rock collided with the ground. Gyrfalcon quickly moved away from the portion of the ledge on which he stood as it began moving to join the rest of the structure. Small fist sized stones continued to rain down on Belshayou, who, judging by the roars, was still very much alive. "It's still coming down." Robby observed to no one in particular. He took a few steps back towards the edge, and made the descision to lend a hand. He closed his eyes, concentrating so deeply that he ceased to breath for several seconds. Then, with a roar of effort, he brought both fists down of the acid-weakened stone. The sound of the impact was something that could be as much felt as heard, and Robby, being closest, almost seemed to be unbalanced by the force unleashed by his own hands. The entire cliff-face trembled for a moment, but held. "Fall!" Robby allowed himself a small string of curses, "Fall damn you!" Much to his surprise, it complied. *** Belshayou couldn't believe this. Small men with swords, and yet smaller men with no swords, should not be able to harm dragons. It was not right. She roared her frustration at the situation as began to painfull process of digging herself free. She would kill that one with the sword, but not quickly, he wouldn't get away with harming her so easily, no, his death would be slow. There was a "boom" from overhead. The small one, who hit so hard, he was up to something. He, too would have to be made to pay for the crime of assulting a dragon. Belshayou's thoughts of vengence were cut off as she looked up to see several more tons of stone plumeting towards her. Gravity and the mass of the stone quickly accomplished the bone-breaking work Robby's direct assults had lacked lacked the power to complete. *** Gasping for breath, and choking on dust that filled the air from the small landslide he'd helped, create, Robby managed a struggled, "Well how about that, we won." With that he took a few step back, the half sat down and half fell backwards to the ground, relieved to have surivived the battle, for the moment he seemed intent on simply catching his breath.
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