10-28-2003, 11:46 PM
The mighty serpent raced ashore with speed unbefitting it's mammoth size, it had to be at least, 60, 80 feet in length or more, it's gaping maw slashing at anyone in range ferociously, obviously annoyed from the startling awakening it just received.
Gnatzilla stepped forward, snow starting to collect on his helmet, his huge weapons cast out in front, whipped into a berserker frenzy, he madly slashed and beat the monster around the head. It became evidently clear the serpent soon knew who it wanted to attack first - he focused on the barbarian - Gnatzilla smiled, everything was going according to plan.
Even though this was my second time attacking such a large target, I still, momentarily stepped back in awe at the figure of this beast. Gripping my twin acrylia longswords, my body so covered in buffs, spells and runes that I looked more like a chalkboard than an elf.
The call went up "Barbeque it!".
I attacked.
I am a Ranger, of no less than 52 seasons, My elven name is horribly hard to pronounce; in common, they simply call me Azure. I am a proud guildmember of the best guild in this world, Temerity, this is my story.
My fellow temerity and I attacked, and soon the mighty serpent looked more as if he were the launchpad for a fireworks display, with all the spells and effects being cast at him, it seemed for sure we would win, for I sensed he was already half defeated and we had only lost a single Temerity. But then things changed.
Perhaps the dragon was surprised at the ferocity of the reception that greeted him on the shores of Cobalt Scar that chilling evening, or perhaps the currents pulled him back just a little, but either way, he started to retreat back into the water.
This posed a number of difficulties, beyond the fact that fighting in the water isn't an ideal situation, especially against such a nimble aquatic dragon as this one.
Even though that evening wasn't terribly bright, we could barely see below the surface of the water, and the other melee next to me, Tofu, Build, Karen, started to file into the water, following the dragon. I followed.
The water, now up to my waist, still slashing at the dragon, I heard a great cracking sound from my left, I looked around just in time to see the dragon take a huge bite at Gnatzilla, the blood sprayed from his chest and neck, Engraved Velium armor gashed open, still with a determined look in his eyes, he fell, the red spray contrasting on the white sands of Cobalt Scar.
For a moment, I was shocked.
Tofu was up next, the plucky dwarf, he continued to face the dragon as it was driven back into the water, however, this time, he didn't attack who he was supposed to. I started to see other Temerity fall, melee, casters, without discrimination, the dragon, his wrath out of control now started slaying everyone he could see.
Perhaps he was disoriented because of the change in leadership, it might have been the snow, or perhaps Tofu just was slain too quickly, but Derechai barely managed to get a heal off on him, before the lead tank changed again.
Build, number 3. By this time, the dragon had been almost completely driven below the murky waters - when the call went out, it was Aarlo.
"Casters, INTO THE WATER!".
The dragon continued to exercise his wrath without abandon, looking around, I could see maybe 5, 8, or 10 corpses littering the shoreline of Cobalt Scar, it was hard to count, what with the snow, the water, now up to my neck, and a dragon blocking 90% of my view.
I continued my attacks on the great dragons side, slashing and cutting, trying to focus at the join between his slimy green scales, as best I could, though his scales were more like big metal dinner plates.
Perhaps it was my fault, or maybe it was just plain unavoidable, I had chosen to use my preferred weapons that day, my trusty Acrylia Longswords; a pair of them, not particularly damaging, but very fast. It was at this point, the serpents head snapped around, and it's icy glare focused on me, his eyeball about the size of my torso.
I kept attacking, avoiding as best I could even though I was a poor swimmer, the dragon slashing with his teeth at my chainmail, cutting through my armor wherever they met, like a knife through butter. I continued, but soon it became obvious that I had to either retreat, or be slain where I stand.
I chose the former.
The pain becoming overwhelming I lost my focus for a moment, and that's when he hit me, head on with his full force. I flew backwards, limbs flailing, barely able to hang onto my swords, and with my last ounce of strength, I swam for all I could.
For a moment, I blacked out. When I awoke, I was on the ocean floor. Alive, but barely. Another hit and I would have been killed - thankful to be alive, I peered through the murky water, and gazed at the horror that still swam above me. The dragon was still alive, Build, valiant as he was, took the final blow he could withstand, and fell at the base of the dragon. I didn't know who was supposed to tank after that. I knew it certainly wasn't me - even though I'd offered to step in earlier, it was made clear I was not considered very capable for the role. I'm not sure Derechai, the last Cleric knew who he was supposed to heal either. I remember hearing Zatrik's muffled call "Heal my pet!".
Somehow, I had escaped the serpents notice, I can only assume he thought me dead, and dragging my self along the ocean floor, I pulled myself ashore. I didn't think I'd use it, but I had memorised a healing spell before the battle, and it proved useful in this case. Steadying myself on a rocky outcrop, I pulled myself to my feet, and started to heal. Looking out, the serpents head bobbed up and down out of the water as it attacked, and I could just make out the bony spikes of Zatriks' pet dinosaur above the surface, it seemed Kalorek'Dar had taken a liking to dino-meat.
The beach was a murderous mosaic of the bodies of my fallen Temerity, there were more bodies than I could have ever imagined, slashed, crushed, others in horrific states of dismemberment, my friends, my family, my guild. As I healed, I knew, this dragon had to die.
My mana exhausted, I was completely healed, bar a few nicks and scratches, and I eagerly waded back into the water, to face, what quite possibly was my doom.
More corpses littered the ocean floor, and through the depths I could barely see Zatrik and his dino-pet still attacking and Trog, the brave Troll. Derechai, having exhausted all his other options, and without a plan F in place, screamed out again 'Who am I supposed to heal now?!?".
This caught the attention of the dragon, and he promptly swung his head around, and faced Derechai, and promptly, sucking the water around him into his giant maw, pulled Derechai towards him, and chomped him in half. Gruesome.
This gave me my opening, I bought the attack back to the serpent, slashing at his side once more, Zatrik and his Dino, Trog, and I trying to finish off what was left of the mammoth task over us. There might have been more Temerity still alive at this point, I don't know, they were all I could see from my side of the dragon, three, small Temerity vs one, really huge dragon. A daunting task.
It was only moments before my quick, rhythmic slashing against Kalorek'Dar drew his attention again and he started bite at me once more. Having learned some of his movements from our prior encounter I think he was a little surprised when his first six attempts to attack me failed, but then it started to happen. First it was my offside arm, impaled by the great tooth of the dragon, then it was my leg, the pain seered through my body, my blood, fast tainting the color of the ocean, joining that of my fallen Temerity, and now, the dragon's.
The thoughts of my fallen Temerity still fresh in my mind, I kept up the attack, and for a fleeting moment, I saw the unwavering glare of the dragon flicker, just a little, he was weakening, while not a great threat by myself, Trog, Zatrik, and dino (and I prayed, there were still others attacking I couldn't see) kept up the fight, and I started to feel the adrenaline rush my system, Kalorek'Dar was almost down, but I still was mostly, battle ready.
Slash and miss, back and forth we continued the battle, the dragon and I, for what seemed like forever, even though it couldn't have been more than 20, 30 seconds or so, until the dragon's eye grew wide, and I sensed it's death at hand. Drawing my sword back, I drove the pointed longblade into it's eye, the water swirling and crashing, and the dragon reared back up on it's tail, thrashing with it's last desperate breath, it looked at me, the life fading quickly from it's one remaining good eye. It's massive hulk, nothing more than a huge lump of dragon meat, crashed, breaking the water into tidal waves on either side, thrusting the remaining Temerity, both dead and alive out into the ocean, grabbing onto a nearby tuft of sea kelp, I managed to resist the tidal surge, and avoided being thrust out into the murky depths; I saw Trog and Zatrik clinging to rocks and kelp like I, trying to hang on. Zatrik's dino, unfortunately tried to grasp onto a seaweed with his teeth, bit off a chunk, and floated off, into the night.
The water calmed, the blood-colored water cleared a little, and I now stood at the head of the dragon, it's one lifeless eye staring at me uncontrollably. Putting my foot against his face, I drew my other sword out of was remaining of his eyeball, and with a great feeling of elation, I pointed my sword, now covered with weird dragon-eye-goop at his corpse, and yelled "Suck that!".
Perhaps not the most inspirational call I could have made, but at the particular moment, exhausted it was all I could come up with. I suppose that's the mark of a leader, being able to come up with something inspiring to say even during the worst circumstances, and I guess in that respect, I have a lot to learn, however we are Temerity, and ultimately, regardless of how many deaths occurred, we won.
But for me, this battle was one I'll remember long after my time as a Ranger is up, an experience I'll carry with me until Tunare no longer sees use for me on this world.
For one brief shining moment, I was the main tank, against a dragon;
..and I prevailed.
I am a Ranger, still (thankfully) of 52 seasons, my name is Azure, and I helped slay a dragon.
I hope you enjoyed my account.
Azure Everleaf
Fier'Dal 52 Pathfinder
Gnatzilla stepped forward, snow starting to collect on his helmet, his huge weapons cast out in front, whipped into a berserker frenzy, he madly slashed and beat the monster around the head. It became evidently clear the serpent soon knew who it wanted to attack first - he focused on the barbarian - Gnatzilla smiled, everything was going according to plan.
Even though this was my second time attacking such a large target, I still, momentarily stepped back in awe at the figure of this beast. Gripping my twin acrylia longswords, my body so covered in buffs, spells and runes that I looked more like a chalkboard than an elf.
The call went up "Barbeque it!".
I attacked.
I am a Ranger, of no less than 52 seasons, My elven name is horribly hard to pronounce; in common, they simply call me Azure. I am a proud guildmember of the best guild in this world, Temerity, this is my story.
My fellow temerity and I attacked, and soon the mighty serpent looked more as if he were the launchpad for a fireworks display, with all the spells and effects being cast at him, it seemed for sure we would win, for I sensed he was already half defeated and we had only lost a single Temerity. But then things changed.
Perhaps the dragon was surprised at the ferocity of the reception that greeted him on the shores of Cobalt Scar that chilling evening, or perhaps the currents pulled him back just a little, but either way, he started to retreat back into the water.
This posed a number of difficulties, beyond the fact that fighting in the water isn't an ideal situation, especially against such a nimble aquatic dragon as this one.
Even though that evening wasn't terribly bright, we could barely see below the surface of the water, and the other melee next to me, Tofu, Build, Karen, started to file into the water, following the dragon. I followed.
The water, now up to my waist, still slashing at the dragon, I heard a great cracking sound from my left, I looked around just in time to see the dragon take a huge bite at Gnatzilla, the blood sprayed from his chest and neck, Engraved Velium armor gashed open, still with a determined look in his eyes, he fell, the red spray contrasting on the white sands of Cobalt Scar.
For a moment, I was shocked.
Tofu was up next, the plucky dwarf, he continued to face the dragon as it was driven back into the water, however, this time, he didn't attack who he was supposed to. I started to see other Temerity fall, melee, casters, without discrimination, the dragon, his wrath out of control now started slaying everyone he could see.
Perhaps he was disoriented because of the change in leadership, it might have been the snow, or perhaps Tofu just was slain too quickly, but Derechai barely managed to get a heal off on him, before the lead tank changed again.
Build, number 3. By this time, the dragon had been almost completely driven below the murky waters - when the call went out, it was Aarlo.
"Casters, INTO THE WATER!".
The dragon continued to exercise his wrath without abandon, looking around, I could see maybe 5, 8, or 10 corpses littering the shoreline of Cobalt Scar, it was hard to count, what with the snow, the water, now up to my neck, and a dragon blocking 90% of my view.
I continued my attacks on the great dragons side, slashing and cutting, trying to focus at the join between his slimy green scales, as best I could, though his scales were more like big metal dinner plates.
Perhaps it was my fault, or maybe it was just plain unavoidable, I had chosen to use my preferred weapons that day, my trusty Acrylia Longswords; a pair of them, not particularly damaging, but very fast. It was at this point, the serpents head snapped around, and it's icy glare focused on me, his eyeball about the size of my torso.
I kept attacking, avoiding as best I could even though I was a poor swimmer, the dragon slashing with his teeth at my chainmail, cutting through my armor wherever they met, like a knife through butter. I continued, but soon it became obvious that I had to either retreat, or be slain where I stand.
I chose the former.
The pain becoming overwhelming I lost my focus for a moment, and that's when he hit me, head on with his full force. I flew backwards, limbs flailing, barely able to hang onto my swords, and with my last ounce of strength, I swam for all I could.
For a moment, I blacked out. When I awoke, I was on the ocean floor. Alive, but barely. Another hit and I would have been killed - thankful to be alive, I peered through the murky water, and gazed at the horror that still swam above me. The dragon was still alive, Build, valiant as he was, took the final blow he could withstand, and fell at the base of the dragon. I didn't know who was supposed to tank after that. I knew it certainly wasn't me - even though I'd offered to step in earlier, it was made clear I was not considered very capable for the role. I'm not sure Derechai, the last Cleric knew who he was supposed to heal either. I remember hearing Zatrik's muffled call "Heal my pet!".
Somehow, I had escaped the serpents notice, I can only assume he thought me dead, and dragging my self along the ocean floor, I pulled myself ashore. I didn't think I'd use it, but I had memorised a healing spell before the battle, and it proved useful in this case. Steadying myself on a rocky outcrop, I pulled myself to my feet, and started to heal. Looking out, the serpents head bobbed up and down out of the water as it attacked, and I could just make out the bony spikes of Zatriks' pet dinosaur above the surface, it seemed Kalorek'Dar had taken a liking to dino-meat.
The beach was a murderous mosaic of the bodies of my fallen Temerity, there were more bodies than I could have ever imagined, slashed, crushed, others in horrific states of dismemberment, my friends, my family, my guild. As I healed, I knew, this dragon had to die.
My mana exhausted, I was completely healed, bar a few nicks and scratches, and I eagerly waded back into the water, to face, what quite possibly was my doom.
More corpses littered the ocean floor, and through the depths I could barely see Zatrik and his dino-pet still attacking and Trog, the brave Troll. Derechai, having exhausted all his other options, and without a plan F in place, screamed out again 'Who am I supposed to heal now?!?".
This caught the attention of the dragon, and he promptly swung his head around, and faced Derechai, and promptly, sucking the water around him into his giant maw, pulled Derechai towards him, and chomped him in half. Gruesome.
This gave me my opening, I bought the attack back to the serpent, slashing at his side once more, Zatrik and his Dino, Trog, and I trying to finish off what was left of the mammoth task over us. There might have been more Temerity still alive at this point, I don't know, they were all I could see from my side of the dragon, three, small Temerity vs one, really huge dragon. A daunting task.
It was only moments before my quick, rhythmic slashing against Kalorek'Dar drew his attention again and he started bite at me once more. Having learned some of his movements from our prior encounter I think he was a little surprised when his first six attempts to attack me failed, but then it started to happen. First it was my offside arm, impaled by the great tooth of the dragon, then it was my leg, the pain seered through my body, my blood, fast tainting the color of the ocean, joining that of my fallen Temerity, and now, the dragon's.
The thoughts of my fallen Temerity still fresh in my mind, I kept up the attack, and for a fleeting moment, I saw the unwavering glare of the dragon flicker, just a little, he was weakening, while not a great threat by myself, Trog, Zatrik, and dino (and I prayed, there were still others attacking I couldn't see) kept up the fight, and I started to feel the adrenaline rush my system, Kalorek'Dar was almost down, but I still was mostly, battle ready.
Slash and miss, back and forth we continued the battle, the dragon and I, for what seemed like forever, even though it couldn't have been more than 20, 30 seconds or so, until the dragon's eye grew wide, and I sensed it's death at hand. Drawing my sword back, I drove the pointed longblade into it's eye, the water swirling and crashing, and the dragon reared back up on it's tail, thrashing with it's last desperate breath, it looked at me, the life fading quickly from it's one remaining good eye. It's massive hulk, nothing more than a huge lump of dragon meat, crashed, breaking the water into tidal waves on either side, thrusting the remaining Temerity, both dead and alive out into the ocean, grabbing onto a nearby tuft of sea kelp, I managed to resist the tidal surge, and avoided being thrust out into the murky depths; I saw Trog and Zatrik clinging to rocks and kelp like I, trying to hang on. Zatrik's dino, unfortunately tried to grasp onto a seaweed with his teeth, bit off a chunk, and floated off, into the night.
The water calmed, the blood-colored water cleared a little, and I now stood at the head of the dragon, it's one lifeless eye staring at me uncontrollably. Putting my foot against his face, I drew my other sword out of was remaining of his eyeball, and with a great feeling of elation, I pointed my sword, now covered with weird dragon-eye-goop at his corpse, and yelled "Suck that!".
Perhaps not the most inspirational call I could have made, but at the particular moment, exhausted it was all I could come up with. I suppose that's the mark of a leader, being able to come up with something inspiring to say even during the worst circumstances, and I guess in that respect, I have a lot to learn, however we are Temerity, and ultimately, regardless of how many deaths occurred, we won.
But for me, this battle was one I'll remember long after my time as a Ranger is up, an experience I'll carry with me until Tunare no longer sees use for me on this world.
For one brief shining moment, I was the main tank, against a dragon;
..and I prevailed.
I am a Ranger, still (thankfully) of 52 seasons, my name is Azure, and I helped slay a dragon.
I hope you enjoyed my account.
Azure Everleaf
Fier'Dal 52 Pathfinder
Wish I were there
Snig