The First Blight: Curse of Dumat [RP/Closed]

[ShadowFolk]

By the second day of flight, Sulahn?nehn had gotten used to being on the back of a griffon. Used to it and no less scared, but there was far less of a death grip on the elf she road with. She was thankful for the relatively peaceful journey the group had taken though she half expected they would discover darkspawn with wings.

Given the state they left it in, it was surprising to see parts of Antiva still standing. What was left was still worth defending if there able bodies to do it. At least that is what she told herself. None of it looked good from what she could see, but orders were orders.

?We?re not landing in that are we??

 

[FortyThree]

Diocles was glad he'd readied his bow with a fresh string this morning. His keen eyes scanned ahead as his mind focused on his inner senses, feeling for darkspawn. Of course they were likely too far away for that.

The archer hadn't found the journey very taxing. Perhaps it was his bond with the valiant Ser Flufferkins, or perhaps it was the privilege of riding alone. Regardless, he felt as always it was his duty to alleviate the stress of his companions.

"Perhaps they ended the Blight and threw a bonfire in celebration!"

 

[Rosen2012]

For Ulrin the flight to Antiva was swift, despite the days it took to reach there. Hi senses were continuously consumed and delighted by riding Waever, and by the second day when he noticed it was a bit easier to breath, he was glad to see Sulahn'nehn was learning to relax on the creature too. The first day her constant stiff motions and agitated movements did make flying a bit more difficult.

When they approached the city, or rather the pillar of smoke he gripped the reigns of his beast tightly. Of course it had to come to an end like this. With the Darkspawn already present and attacking.

"We will have to won't we? If there is anyone left, we must assists them before it is too late."

 

[Slycne]

Jarrik looked out across the city a bit mournfully. Antiva City wasn't his home, but he'd spent enough time there to be saddened over its current state. The feeling quickly turned to steel in his gut. The city defenses had barely held the last time the darkspawn assaulted, and little reinforcements had doubtlessly arrived in few short weeks. It was no surprise to see it in such disarray.

"Aye." He shouted over the howling winds. "If anyone's left they have their backs to the docks, we should head there to organize the defense."

 

[duckflesh]

Delphina gritted her teeth.

"Too late! Just our luck. Hang on, Fidelity!"

She drove her griffon to a higher altitude and then snapped the reins, sending the creature diving toward Antiva's overrun battlements.

A regiment of Darkspawn that had just succeeded in taking over the wall-tops turned in surprise as Delphina's griffon rushed by them, goring one of them with its beak as Delphina launched an arrow into another. A moment later the griffon was climbing into the air again.

A Hurlock began barking orders, the Genlocks assembling and nocking arrows. They sent a barrage after Delphina's griffon-- two went wide, but two found their mark in Delphina. She shouted out in pain, nearly tumbling off her mount as her blood ran down the Griffon's sides.

The Hurlock, turning, launched a bolt of red-black energy through the sky at Diocles, striking him in the chest.

 

[ShadowFolk]

As soon as the Wardens arrived on the scene they were dragged into combat once again. Already, one of them had been dismounted and it all seemed to be getting rather ugly, rather quickly.

Strapped in on the griffon there wasn't much the elf could do to maneuver, but there was just enough to detach her staff from her harness and aim it at a darkspawn archer. However, her plans changed as soon as she saw a spell rip through the air. A pulse shot out the end of her staff and pelted the enemy mage in the chest.

 

[Rosen2012]

Ulrin pulled at Weaver's reigns. He turned the griffon the direction of the female elf's spell and ordered the beast toward the Darkspawn mage. He swooped in low, meaning to cut into the creature with his daggers, however despite his ability to control the bird with easy, fighting was a bit more cumbersome. He only manged to cut into the side of the monster's face with one of his daggers, however Weaver made up for his mussed assault by tearing into its shoulder with her claws.

He then pulled up on her reigns climbing back into the air to circle around for another attack.

 

[Slycne]

Jarrik leaned into Nadja so he didn't need to shout as loudly, a quarter inch of steel separating them kept any sense to intimacy from the closeness at bay. "Get me down next to those archers, and I'll take some fire off everyone." He pointed out an empty section of battlement near the group of darkspawn.

The plan set, he slid his visor down with a satisfying clack. The helmet restricted his vision, but it was a tad more effective at turning a darkspawn arrow than a fleshy face. White Fury dove sharply at the commands of its rider, throwing Jarrik's stomach into his throat for the moment. The griffin actually dove below the height of the wall, a maneuver that not only let it bleed of speed as it arced back up, but also made it a harder target. Jarrik lept from the back of the beast, happy that he didn't get caught in any of the saddle rigging, and promptly put his spear through the weaker armor of a rather startled darkspawn bowman.

He brought the shield around from off his back and clashed his spear against it in challenge to the pair of archers on this section of the wall. "Aye, come get me ya' ugly bastards!"

 

[FortyThree]

Diocles wiped blood from his mouth, but his concern was elsewhere.

"Nadja, take them off Delphy!"

The archer wouldn't take the job himself, though. His ideal target was clear. He drew his bow in a snap, directing the griffon with his knees as he'd been shown. It needed little prodding, dropping into a quick dive while nimbly dodging around Weaver and spells from both sides. Ser Flufferkins wheeled to the side for Diocles to release an arrow into his enemy's chest, and the projectile threw the monster off balance long enough for the griffon to swing back around and strike a fierce blow.

In seconds they were swinging about for another pass, Diocles drawing another arrow from his quiver with a grin more full of rage than humor.

"To the void with you, fiends!"

 

[Cinnonym]

"I'm a bit bloody busy!"

Unloading Jarrik at the wall had put White Fury too close to the line of fire and the beast fought to regain altitude swiftly; at the very least, the Rivaini would keep the sons of bitches distracted enough to give the others a reprieve from arrows. Who could tell, though, when the Darkspawn were ruled less by self-preservation than by marionette's strings.

White Fury gave a final surge upward and his wings spread wide to catch the air, giving his rider a point from which to survey the battle below. Delphina's retreat out of the range of the enemy was facilitated by her passenger; she could see the bursts of lightning smash into two archers, and one for their leader. She gave the reins slack and leaned her weight forward, coaxing her griffon into another dive as her glaive rolled in her hand and found support against her side. While the Emissary stumbled back from Fidelity's blow, her mount swept into range and her blade ripped a deep gash across the thing's middle. It cut through cloth and tainted flesh like butter.

 

[duckflesh]

The Darkspawn chittered with what might have been apprehension as the Hurlock mage tumbled dead from the battlements. The four archers turned to face the most dire threat-- the armored man confronting them on foot.

At close range, they could hardly miss; all four arrows found their mark, though much of their force was mitigated by the man's heavy armor.

Delphina brought her Griffon around for another pass, letting an arrow fly at one Darkspawn as her beast raked another with its talons. Each enemy was hit and tumbled to the ground, but both were back up again almost immediately, appearing none the worse for wear. Delphina frowned as she urged the Griffon back up into the sky.

 

[ShadowFolk]

This encounter seemed so much faster paced than the usually and perhaps that was due partly to the beast she was strapped to speeding through the sky. It was difficult to keep her bearings with all the swooping and turning. The elf only needed a moment with a clear shot.

"Steady!" It was more command than request and shortly thereafter one of the darkspawn archers seemed to crumble on itself. Sulahn'nehn wore a very satisfied expression and shouted for someone to finish it before it could gather itself together.

 

[Slycne]

Jarrik couldn't help but laugh bold faced and openly to the gaggle of darkspawn in front of him. A hail of arrows had rained down upon him, but save one that had sunk into his arm the rest clattered mostly harmlessly off heavy plate and shield.

Advancing upon them, he tried to feint and bash with his shield in order to boot one of them from the walls, but he was forced to divert his attention to another to keep from being flanked. The razor sharp spear point raked along the darkspawn's inner leg as he used the spear to trip up his former opponent.

 

[FortyThree]

Seeing the darkspawn were on the fully capable Jarrik, Diocles launched an arrow at their closest warrior. Before he could nock a fresh one, Ser Flufferkins was going for a new target.

It flew overtop the monsters and Jarrik, grabbing the mage's target in its talons, then dropping it over the edge of the wall.

 

[Rosen2012]

After Sulahn'nehn finished her spell Ulrin ordered Weaver down again, this time back into the crowd of archers. He had a little bit more of a handle on his timing for when to strike while the bird was in low to the ground. He drew his knives again, and this time with better aim slashed into the throat of one of the archers while Weaver's talons and beak tore into another.

Perhaps he'd have her circle and fly low the whole fight considering how intently she ripped apart Darkspawn, but he pulled her reigns up and climbed higher again. With Sulahn'nehn ridding with him it was better to fly high and keep diving in the hopes they'd avoid taking on too many injuries.

 

[Cinnonym]

Between the Wardens, it was simple clean-up of the remaining Darkspawn archers. Fidelity's magic struck true from a distance, and White Fury made another sweeping pass to slash a line of red through Nadja's target with talons and glaive. She landed the griffon on the wall and called to Jarrik, intending to let the ranged fighters deal with the stragglers.

"To the bird, before more of them turn up!"

 

[Slycne]

"Aye, be right there!"

Jarrik grunted as he wretched the arrow free from his arm, checking first to see how badly it bled. Satisfied that he wasn't in immediate danger, he backed away from the remaining archers while keeping his shield up. Reaching the griffin and rider, he quickly swung his way back up on White Fury's back, the armor not as impeding to his movement as one might guess.

 

[duckflesh]

Within a matter of seconds, two of the archers had tumbled dead from the wall. Reinforcements were arriving, however-- two more Genlock archers were charging up the western stairs to join the fight on the wall top.

They chose the western stairs, perhaps, because the eastern ones were occupied by something that was barely able to mount them at all. That the ogre made it to the top was nothing short of a miracle, but it seemed untroubled by the balancing act; it only had eyes for Jarrik. Heading for him steadily, it scooped up an armored knight's corpse and hurled it as a missile. An effective one, as it turned out-- the carcass slammed into Jarrik with all the force of a ballista bolt, just as he was climbing aboard Nadja's griffon.

The archers moved to support, firing at Nadja in an attempt to force her to flee. Two of the four arrows found their mark, both sinking into her thigh.

----

Cursing this new development, Delphina wheeled her griffon around, diving in once more. Her griffon raked the ogre with its claws while she loosed an arrow into its back, though it seemed to hardly notice.

 

[FortyThree]

"Stay focused."

D spoke softly to his griffon, and the need to direct it seemed to calm him in turn. The Ogre was imposing, but he knew the damage those archers could do. He'd better reduce the enemy numbers before they focused their fire and made one of his allies a pincushion. He took one of the archers in the head while Flufferkins slashed another. he flew past quickly, accepting the kill of only one target to stay moving and hard to hit.

 

[Slycne]

"A good start don't you thin..."

The words were just escaping his lips when something slammed into him hard, knocking him cleanly off the griffin and back to the battlement. The impact would have crushed and killed any normal man, but Jarrik's heavy armor and the darkspawn blood flowing through his veins kept him alive somehow.

He regained consciousness with a startled surprise, twisted and mangled armored limbs being briefly mistaken for his own. Suddenly the wounds from the arrows didn't seem so bad, and he stumbled to his feet, shaking the stars from his vision and the corpse from where it landed on top of him. The culprit could be none other than that towering beast perched precariously at the stairs.

Fury and hot blooded, Jarrik hefted one of the darkspawn helmets and tossed it at the ogre. "Aye! Let's see how you like it!" To his profound amazement it didn't bounce harmless off the ogre's thick hide. Well it did bounce off, but the impact seemed just enough to unbalance the top heavy beast and it thudded into the wall hard while regaining its footing.