NationStates Jolt Archive

Before We Begin

I'd like to dedicate this topic to Reploid Productions, for her excellent and inspiring RP. I hope to RP with you someday, but that probably won't happen for a long time.

Now, Just One More Thing...

The events of this topic do not take place in Khrrck, but in the Wyrms' long-lost homeland. For more information about the Wyrms and their history, see this topic (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127421&highlight=).

Please read topic before posting.

And now, let the story begin...

Rude Awakenings

"We are the misfits and the freaks.
But oh, what havoc we can wreak!"

Such were the words that jolted Rak'marthar'hakah into wakefulness.

First Dragon, save me from this horrible noise. thought Rak'mar, stretching slowly. It was his second week in the Ice Blades, and already he hated it. It's bad enough when I'm fully awake, but this is the last straw.

Rak'mar poked his head out of the cave mouth and yelled. "Mk'shakar'kakak, shut up! Do you know what a horrible racket you're making? It's bad enough when you try to sing in the afternoon. Please, don't extend your performances into the morning hours." He squinted upwards, checking the position of the sun. "Early morning hours."

Mk'shak, the unit's wizard and general nuisance, stopped in mid-verse and looked up from the bottom of the canyon at Rak'mar. "Come on. The Fire Blades have their own song. I'm trying to compose one for us. How can I do it when you interrupt me all the time?"

Rak'mar launched himself from his sleeping cavern, huge bluish-white wings snapping out to catch the air. "We've done fine without a song for six hundred years." he retorted, spiraling down towards the canyon floor. "I don't see why we should suddenly need one now."

Rak'mar swooped towards the ground and braked, wings thrashing the air with huge, rattling booms. The other dragon looked shocked. "Why are you so angry? It's just singing, for First's sake."

Rak'mar folded his wings slowly and carefully. "Bad singing. Stick to invocations and chants, not songs. If you must sing, do it in the Waste, where nobody will hear you. Especially not me."
"But-"
"If you have any disagreements, you settle them with me. If you inflict yourself on me again, you'll find out what it's like to be a ice sculpture." Rak'mar spat the words vehemently, and meant what he said.

A loud, commanding voice rang through the canyon.
"Rak'mar!"

"Ah, dung." muttered Rak'mar, as the unit commander, Thk'makar'raka, descended from above with a thunder of black wings. His speech was barely audible over the noise. "I know Mk'shak's singing is bad, but we can't afford to lose our wizard over this." Thk'mak hit the ground with a clang, his mechanical leg hissing as it took up his weight.

Rak'mar looked down at Thk'mak. The commander was much smaller than he was, and his front-left leg had been replaced by a strange contraption of Wyrmish design. But behind those vicious jaws lurked an acid that could burn through metal.

Memory

Such a thing wasn't normal among dragons. The same magical blast that had killed Thk'mak's mother had wreaked havoc with his body, making a twisted ruin of his leg and gifting him with the ability to spit acid instead of flame. A common enough story, among the Ice Blades.

The Ice Blades were where you went when you wanted to get away from normal dragon society and defend the borders, but for some reason or another couldn't join the Fire Blades. The Fire Blades defended the east, west, and south sides; the Ice Blades defended the frigid, icy north border. The ranks were infested with criminals, misfits like Mk'shak, and mutations like Thk'mak...

Or me. thought Rak'mar, wryly. His fellow hatchlings had always teased him about how he couldn't breathe flame, and they got crueler as they got older. Finally, one day, three of them had backed him into a corner.

Even then, he was much bigger then they were, but they spat flame, and there were three of them. Finally, maddened beyond reason, he had snapped his head forward and hissed out a blast of frosty mist that froze the ringleader's snout solid, and sent them all running in terror.

"Reliving your past, Rak'mar?"
Rak'mar jerked himself out of his thoughts and looked down at Thk'mak. "Now that you mention it, yes."

The older dragons had found out about the incident soon enough. They decided that he wasn't to blame for what had happened, and didn't punish him. But he still didn't fit in. He had lived with the shunning and the whispers behind his back for four long years before he decided to join the Blades.

The Fire Blades hadn't accepted him. His icy breath and size were useful, they told him, as was the experience he had gained defending his Lair, but the Fire Blades wanted only "true" dragons in their force. He had spent weeks trying to get in, then finally gave up and joined the Ice Blades. He was regretting it already.

Thk'mak stretched, then launched himself into the air again. "Well, I don't care what you do, but we're still going on patrol in an hour, and I expect you to show up."

Rak'mar inclined his head toward Mk'shak in a barely perceptible nod. "Well, looks like you've gotten let off. Just keep the singing to a minimum, OK?"

With that, he launched himself back towards his cavern, to get ready for his first patrol. Things could still turn out OK, I suppose.

Thk'mak looked around at the dragons. "Okay, hatchlings, here's what we're going to do."

He muttered under his breath, and a colorful, three-dimensional map extruded itself from the ground. Mk'shak watched with interest. "No matter what some of you may have been thinking, we won't be staying here all the time. The Powers That Be have decided that you need to be toughened up, and they've assigned us to one of the northern outposts."

A red line snaked across the map from the canyon they were in towards an ice-coated mountain in the far north. "It'll be a long flight. We'll probably run into a couple of Wyrm patrols, and there's been reports of griffins in this forest."

One of the forests underneath the red line glowed blue. "Griffins aren't too tough to deal with, but they can be nasty if you aren't prepared. Has anyone here dealt with griffins before?"

The Twins, a pair of golden dragons, looked up from the map. "One of them attacked our Lair once." they said, voices synchronizing eerily. "We vaporized it."

Thk'mak nodded, slowly. "Well, that was a southern griffin. The ones up here are bigger and faster. Don't expect it to be so easy. Anyone have questions?"

Rak'mar took the moment as an opportunity to look around at the assembled unit. There was Thk'mak and Mk'shak, and the Twins, who had hatched from the same egg. Each of the Twins seemed to know what the other was thinking, and they moved in an oddly synchronized fashion.

There were several others he didn't recognize; a red dragon, who was a mere ten feet long, three green dragons, of differing sizes, and an electric-blue dragon lurking in the back. I wonder if they put all the odd ones in one place for a reason. Probably they're trying to tell us that we're not alone in being strange.

Mhk'shak nodded. "None? Good. Has everyone got their gear?"
"I do."
"So do I."
"We do."
"Hey, does it look like I'm an idiot? If course I do."
"I've got mine, and so do these two."


"I'vve got it."
That was the first time Rak'mar had heard the blue dragon speak. He had an odd accent, like a buzzing electric crackle.

He looked over himself for a moment. Since he was the biggest, he carried all the heavy gear. Medkit, slicers, spare parts for the outpost machinery... "I've got everything."
"Good."

((So, what are we supposed to join this as? Other dragons?))

[OOC: You know, I was planning to do this by myself, but that's a great idea... You can choose from the other dragons in the unit:

Mk'shak
The Twins (male)
The red dragon (Ikah'maka'tak, AKA Ikah'ma, a female.)
One of the three green dragons (Rama'kaha'hamak (F), Akr'kaha'hamak (M), Reka'kaha'hamak (F), AKA Rama'ka, Ala'ka, and Reka'k.)

Until someone chooses to RP a dragon, I'll RP it. I'll be RPing Rak'mar, the electric-blue dragon (Zkst'azrk'nkra, AKA Zkst'azr) and Thk'mak throughout.

If you want to join in some other way, ask and I'll see about it.]

((I know it said Solo RP, but what's the point of RPing with yourself, right? I'll see if I want to join, and if so, what.))

[OOC post]

I made that last post in a hurry, so here's some more elaborate descriptions of the individual dragons, and some thoughts about dragons in general. By the way, I will assume that you've read the link at the front of this topic, so please read it. I also may edit this post, adding more information about dragons; I'll tell you if I do so.

Fighting Style.
1. A dragon will always use flame if he can. Claws and/or teeth are used as a last resort, or if the dragon is trying to capture and/or disable instead of destroy.

2. Magic is used haphazardly, but with great force. A dragon trying to kill someone won't stop their heart; they'll vaporize them, and perhaps some of the surrounding area as well.

3. Dragons fight best in the air. (But they can still wreak havoc on the ground.)

4. The weakest part of a dragon is the wings. The thin membrane can be singed, ripped, holed, sliced, pierced, shredded, mangled, and mauled. Got the point? In battle, a dragon does its best to protect its wings.

Healing
Dragons heal fast. A torn and scorched wing will take a few weeks; a broken leg, if properly set, a few days. Small and localized injuries heal faster than widely distributed ones. Magery or wizardry can augment the natural magical healing of a dragon, but such acceleration is painful and can cause great harm if done wrong.

The Twins will not be separated from each other; a trait which kept them out of the Fire Blades. A pity, since the Twins are formidable in combat. Their special affinity for each other allows them to perform feats of precision maneuvering that would be impossible for any two "normal" dragons. They almost always speak at the same time, with near-perfect synchronization.

Mhk'shak is a likable sort, if you can stand his singing. He joined the Ice Blades because they saw less fighting. (An added factor may have been the fact that magicians are valued among the Ice Blades, as most join the Fire Blades.)
He's fairly competent in wizardry, though there's plenty who could outdo him, and is especially fond of illusions. He can hold his own in a fight, but he prefers to hang back and pummel the enemy from a distance.

Ikah'maka'tak is tiny, with a fiery temper, and not-so-fiery breath. She cannot breathe flame, but that doesn't slow her down; in claw-to-claw combat, she's nearly unstoppable, and she can fit into spaces any other dragon wouldn't dream of trying to enter. Unfortunately, she tends to ignore orders when she's enraged. And she gets enraged easily; her temper is shorter than she is.

Rama'kaha'hamak is one of the oldest dragons in the Ice Blades, at nearly 117 years old. She joined the Blades because it's one of the few things she's never done. She's dabbled in magery, wizardry, shapeshifting (a rather unsuccessful attempt; she only succeeded in making her workshop-cave collapse), tactics, engineering, Steel Claws (the dragons' only "formal" fighting style, which bears more resemblance to berserking than Eastern martial arts.), mining, and chemistry. A jack of all trades, and master of none.

Akr'kaha'hamak is the closest thing to a "normal" dragon in the unit, although rather reckless and adventurous.
He was sentenced to service in the Ice Blades as punishment for stealing gems from an older dragon's hoard; a well-thought-out, complex enterprise that would have succeeded had not the older dragon been home at the time. <GREENDRAG-M1> doesn't seem to mind his sentence; he said it was his fault, and that he does not intend to desert. "Besides, this could be fun."

Reka'kaha'hamak joined a few days after <GREENDRAG-M1> was sentenced. "I can't let him have all the fun, can I?" She and <GREENDRAG-M1> have been friends for a long time, and she took pains to make sure he ended up in the same unit.

Nobody knows exactly why Zkst'azrk'nkra joined. He tends to keep to himself, but the current rumor about his origins is that he was a hermit for some time, and still prefers being alone. Nobody knows exactly how old he is, either, although he's certainly not young; the only dragon in the unit bigger than him is Rak'mar.

As Rak'mar puts it, "He's strange. Sometimes I swear he teleports; I turn around, when I'm damn sure there wasn't anything behind me, and see him. He can't be sneaking around; he's almost as big as I am, and that color of his would give him away. He did it again just this morning; I nearly froze his snout off, but my mist just seemed to stop in front of him. Then he left. I could have sworn he was laughing..."

((Question: are you basing Zkst'azr off of the Temporal Drakes of DnD? Just because he holds some of the same abilities. I suppose I'll play Ikah'ma, she sounds fun to play as.))

"Alright, let's do it!" Ikah'ma said vehemently, the fire of anticipation in her eyes.

[OOC: Never heard of Temporal Drakes, so no. Never played Dungeons and Dragons, either...]

Thk'mak grinned. "Enthusiastic, eh? Well, let's get going. First stop is Fools' Canyon, about sixty miles to the north. Unless you've stayed in your Lair your whole life, this should be easy."

A quiet chorus of "Not bloody likely" was heard in the background.

"Excellent. Come on, let's go. Follow my lead."

Thk'mak braced himself, unfolded his wings, and leaped into the sky.

((Oh, well Temporal Drakes are small relatives to dragons that can teleport and rewrite time so that nothing can hit them. Tricky bastards.))

Ikam'ma streaked into the sky, and couldn't help but pull off a quick barrel roll. Flying was the ultimate sensation for her.

The remaining dragons took off slowly, each in their own way.

Rak'mar lumbered into the sky, feeling decidedly clumsy after seeing Ikam'ma's takeoff. He might have been able to match it unencumbered, but certainly not fully loaded.

Mk'shak leaped into the air, wings snapping out and catching the wind as he ascended behind Rak'mar.

Rama'ka took off slowly, with the ease and grace of long experience.

Akr'ka flipped into the sky, twirled head over tail for a moment, then snapped his wings out, struggling to regain the altitude he had lost during the stunt.

Reka'k took off sedately, gliding lazily into position behind Akr'ka. "Show-off."

Zkst'azr slid into the air, catching the wind with graceful ease and ascending into his position at the end of the formation.

Thk'mak looked back over his shoulder, obviously pleased with the other dragons' performance. "Good."

He struck out towards the north, towing the other dragons behind in a ragged V-shaped formation.

After a while, the momentary thrill of flying wore off for Ikam'ma, as it wasn't anything novel to her. She searched the skies boredly, hoping they'd fnd something she could tear to shreds.

[OOC post]
Bump.

I should be posting tomorrow. Hopefully Effrenata will have turned up by then, though he may not want to join; we'll see. Also, perhaps someone else will see the topic now that I've bumped it.

As the dragons arrived at Fools' Canyon, Thk'mak banked around and led them on a slightly more eastern course. The temperature was noticably lower already, and they were gaining altitude. "Easy, huh? Next leg is a lot longer. About two hundred and sixty miles. The griffin-infested forest I was talking about is about thirty miles ahead, so watch out."

Mk'shak banked around a patch of turbulence. Peering ahead, he made out a pair of dots on the horizon. "What's that?"

Thk'mak squinted forward at the rapidly-approaching shapes. "Wyrm patrol flyers. See the yellow lights? That's their drive crystals. If you ever have to fight one, go for the crystals."

The first flyer flashed past, a blurringly fast firey arrowhead. The dragons lurched as the sonic boom hit.

The second flyer braked to the dragons' flying speed, banking around to keep alongside them as its cockpit hinged open.

The Wyrm inside yelled over the humming roar of the drive crystals and the wingbeats of the dragons. "Where're you going?"
"Is it any buisness of yours?"
"Suit yourself. Something's gotten the griffins riled up. We didn't have the time to fight, but if you keep going that way you'll run into them."
Thk'mak nodded. "Thanks for the advice."

*poke*

BUMP and edited the title, to hopefully attract more participants.

The heroic figure of Omnus Stormrider, the last of the dragonlords sat quietly amidst the mountainous region that surrounded his home. As he surveyed the broken landscape, jagged, yet beautiful, Omnus carefully unsheathed his sword, known as the Hellblade, from its scabbard and gazed upon its dark surface. He sighed, resheathing the sword. After standing up and stretching his sore limbs, Omnus tied the sheathed sword to his back and began to climb the tallest of the peaks, effortlessly. Within minutes, Omnus had arrived at his destination, a massive cave halfway up the mountain, lighted by energy collected from the sun and the moon. As one entered slowly into the room, one could see the myriad of massive bones and carcasses arrayed near the cave entrance. Towards the end of the cave was a small gilded door. Omnus stopped at the door and turned around towards the massive cavern. Kneeling upon the ground, Omnus bowed his head and intoned a timeless chant. In a singing, flowing voice, Omnus intoned, “To thee dragons, long disappeared from this realm. To thee deceased, who in thy future shall return. To thee lords of the sky, to thee lords of thee earth, and to thee lords of heaven. We the caretakers of thy bones, wait patiently for thy return.”

Finished, Omnus stood once more. Turning back to the door, Omnus from his flowing robes produced a small key. Fitting it into a carefully hidden lock, Omnus unlocked the door and entered, through to a cavernous hall, filled with statues of the dead, all of them heroic figures. At the foot of each statue were the personal effects of the dead heroes, their armor, their weapons, and their wealth. Omnus closed the door behind him, locking it. Kneeling once more upon the floor, Omnus intoned, “To thee the predecessors of might and power. To thee the warriors of the sky, the earth, and the heavens. To thee the champions of the dragon. I thy successor, bow down to thee…”

Completed with this ritual, Omnus walked slowly through the hall, flanked on either side by the powerful statues. At the end of the hall was a massive tri-stone, Omnus stopped and carefully unstrapped his sword. Reverently, Omnus unsheathed the sword. Dropping the scabbard carelessly on the ground, Omnus began to place the sword into the tri-stone. The sword soon rested perfectly within the tri-stone. Kneeling, Omnus bowed his head in reverence.

Standing up once more, Omnus turned to a small chamber adjoining the hall. The chamber was bare and austere, filled with nothing. The only decoration was the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol along with the Ba Gua. Entering the chamber, Omnus quickly sat down in the center of the symbol. Taking a deep breath, Omnus held it in and slowly let it out. Closing his eyes, Omnus began to meditate.

Then, his mind reeled in pain as something disturbing occurred… Omnus’s mind drifted into a meeting with some of his predecessors. In a semi-circle with a subservient Omnus kneeling in front. The center figure, a towering man in long flowing red robes pointed at Omnus and said in a deep, booming voice, “Something new has come out to threaten the lands. Some vile creatures in a distant part of the human plane have begun the breeding of dragons. Dragons were fated to meet their extinction nearly three millennia ago and were fated to be resurrected in time… Now, these creatures have committed blasphemous acts by attempting to recreate the ill-fated race known today as dragons… Omnus, your task is to seek out these creatures and obliterate them off of the face of the human plane… Throw them into the prison of the Timeless Realms and allow them to face hell for all eternity…”

“What about the dragons?” Omnus said.

Another towering man seating to the right of the central figure and wearing a flowing blue robe, snorted and said, “They are not true dragons as they were not created by the magics combining light and darkness… Therefore you may do as you please with them…”

“Yes, masters…”

“Do not fail us, Omnus… Rectify this event which threatens the balance of life…”

With a start, Omnus came out of meditation. Sweating and breathing heavily, Omnus laid back upon the cool floor, stunned by the events. He knew that his solitude and tranquility was about to end and the first challenge of his life would begin…

[OOC: Nice try, Swordmasters of Ginaz, and pretty good, but it doesn't quite fit in with the scenario. Dragons have been alive and well for the past sixteen thousand years, and have been quite proud about the fact that they don't need anyone. I don't think they would put up to humans breeding them.]

(OOC: My characters only believe in one dragon, the Storm Dragon, native to their homeland. The other dragons are fake, as they are not created by magic... In addition, Storm Dragons died out several thousand years earlier, so to my characters, no real dragons exist anymore.)

Ikam'ma eyed the Wyrm craft carefully, and listened to Thk'mak's sage advice. She gave the Wyrm flyer what amounted to a draconic grin, a twinkle in her eye at the guarantee of griffins to fight.

[OOC: Thanks for the explanation, Ginaz. Feel free to join in.]

The Wyrm nodded. "Glad to be of service. They're about forty miles away."

The craft's hatch slid shut as it rocketed away, the thrumming roar of the crystals ramping up to a scream that made Rak'mar's ear-slits hurt.

Mk'shak gazed down at the pine forest beneath them, wondering what else besides griffins lived down there...

***********************************************

The watch-griffin bugled a cry of warning.

"Intruders!
Thieves of Eggs!
Dragons!
Coming here!
Fly, and defend the Nest!"

Griffins took to the sky, with mindless screams of rage at their percieved attackers.

Omnus awoke in the darkness of his bedchamber. Quietly, he stood and stretched his aching limbs. With a snap of his fingers, a canopy that shrouded the window at the roof of the chamber moved away and allowed the refreshing, golden light of the sun to stream down into the room, and uncovering the darkness that had shrouded the room. Omnus was wearing nothing but a very long tunic that went to his ankles. But with a sudden flash, Omnus’s attire changed and dark, foreboding armor replaced the tunic. It was another ability that Omnus possessed, a gift of his creation. Omnus was in reality a dragon-human hybrid, created by the twisted dark magics of his predecessor, which fused a newborn baby and a dying dragon into one, creating Omnus. He received the strengths and benefits of both races and through some twist of fate, none of their weaknesses. However, Omnus became a servant of forces of his creation, of both that of the demons, the foul destroyers of life, and of the dragons, the sacred guardians of life. Thus in a sense, Omnus was instead of being either good or evil, light or dark, or pure or corrupted, Omnus was instead in between, walking a fine line between both darkness and the light, innocent and corrupted, and good and evil…

Satisfied that he was ready, Omnus exited his bedchamber and into the grand inner hall. Walking towards the tri-stone, Omnus kneeled upon the ground before it and slowly and reverently pulled the great sword out of its position. With the sword in his hand, Omnus held it forth and turned around, pointing it directly at the locked door at the other end of the inner hall. In a deep booming voice, Omnus spoke in the long forgotten language of the Storm Dragons, “Des Helldasd est aosad et gueas!” (Meaning The Hellblade is going to war)

With that, the great door collapsed and like a tsunami of power and magic, Omnus disappeared out of the hall, moving at incomprehensible speeds to the lands where corruption and blasphemy were…

Bump.

[OOC: Had an idea...]

The farmer rode his cart along the dusty road between newly-harvested fields, chatting idly with the Wyrm pulling it. "The melons oughta fetch a good price. Even Cecil doesn't have any that big."

The coppery-scaled Wyrm chuckled drily. He was small for a Wyrm, at a mere seven feet; but still strong, as the cartful of produce he was pulling showed. Something resembling a oversized crossbow was slung over his back. "You know, you never cease to amaze me. You t-talk about your farm for hours on end, and then you sstart-t talking about t-the ssize of your melonss. Don't you ever think of anything elsse?"

"Our farm, not mine."
The Wyrm grinned. "And don't you forget it-t."

The pastoral scene was interrupted by a earsplitting bang.

The farmer dove off the side of the cart and took shelter behind it. The Wyrm reacted differently; he dove out of his harness, rose onto his hind legs, flipped his weapon off his back, and cocked it with a yank. Then he realized what he was pointing his weapon at.

"Ah, ssorry, ssir. You sst-tartled me." The Wyrm lowered his weapon, but didn't uncock it; it hummed with supressed tension.

Bump. (C'mon, people! Join in!)

"Well, that's a lot of griffins." Ikam'ma grinned and dove downwards to meet the griffins.

She practically dropped straight down into the pack of griffins, and unfurled her blood red wings, relishing in the inside-out feeling of the sudden change in speed. She slashed to the side, sideslipping as she did so, and felt her claws rip across a griffin's side. The victim of her attack toppled from the skies with a screech. Ikam'ma felt a brush of feathers on her flank, and whirled, biting ravenously. Another griffin spiralled towards the cold earth, chest and throat in pieces. A griffin's outstreched claws scraped the red dragon's back, and she shot upwards, two griffins behind her. She looped downwards, and passed the two griffins on the way down. A few moments later, they stalled in flight and toppled earthwards with a flurry of bloodied feathers, large gashes in their sides. Ikam'ma turned back towards the other dragons, cutting across the front line of the griffins on the way and slashing one's throat with her tail. Pulling a hard turn, she dived back into the fray, coming out the back of their swarm, several griffins falling to their deaths in her wake. She continued to cut across the griffins, steadily thinning their ranks, and throughly enjoying it.

[OOC: Doublepost, doublepost, doublepost, BLAH!]

Thk'mak grinned. "Well? You're not about to let her have all the fun, are you?"

Rak'mar dove head-first into the griffins, spraying frost with a great deal of force and a great lack of aim. Mk'shak followed, more calmly.

Rak'mar managed to flash-freeze at least one griffin, which shattered when Mk'shak slapped it with his tail, then dove out of the way as a griffin plummeted past, trailing smoke from a scorched wing.

Above him, he could see Zkst'akr; the older dragon was fighting slowly and calmly. He would circle around a griffin, dispatch it with a blast of flame to the head, and move on to the next one. Somehow he managed to avoid being bitten or clawed while he did it.

To his left, Rama'ka was fighting like a maniac; diving into clumps of griffins, shredding them with her claws and spraying fire in all directions.

To the right, Reka'k and Akr'ra were fighting single griffins; Mk'shak had pulled out of the fight, and was flinging spells at regular intervals. Some of them were coming dangerously close to Reka'k; a griffin exploded in mid-air nearby, showering her with blood and feathers.

Rak'mar froze another griffin. The griffins seemed to have realized what they were up against; they had started attacking in a more coordinated fashion, diving in in waves rather than uncoordinated mobs.

***********************

Thk'mak peered down at the battle. The recruits were doing well; he didn't seem to be needed. The griffins were being herded back into smaller and smaller clumps, and some of them had started to give up and flap away.

Thk'mak dispatched another griffin with a spray of acid, then returned his attention to the scene below.

Ikam'ma slowed down as the rest of the dragons joined her, careful not to shred one of the others. Rak'mar brought his fighting into the same area as the red dragon, and she narrowly avoided being clipped by one of his frosty blasts.

"Watch it!" She shouted with a laugh, to busy with the griffins to be angry with him.

She continued cutting across the waves of griffins, sustaining a few minor cuts and slashes, mostly to her flanks. She spun with a cry of delight, and seperated another griffin's wings from it's body, a shower of blood following it's plummet to the earth. Eventually, she began to tire from her ferocious start, and hung back further after each wave.

Ikam'ma slowed down as the rest of the dragons joined her, careful not to shred one of the others. Rak'mar brought his fighting into the same area as the red dragon, and she narrowly avoided being clipped by one of his frosty blasts.

"Watch it!" She shouted with a laugh, to busy with the griffins to be angry with him.

She continued cutting across the waves of griffins, sustaining a few minor cuts and slashes, mostly to her flanks. She spun with a cry of delight, and seperated another griffin's wings from it's body, a shower of blood following it's plummet to the earth. Eventually, she began to tire from her ferocious start, and hung back further after each wave.

Rak'mar froze another griffin and looked around for more.

He couldn't see any.

He looked again. The only griffins in sight were flying away as fast as they could. Rama'ka was circling nearby, looking disappointed. Reka'k and Akr'ka had pulled out and were hovering with Mk'shak down below.

Thk'mak folded his wings and dropped from above like a rock, snapping his wings out to break his fall. "Come on, let's get moving again. The sooner we get to a place where we can rest, the sooner we can deal with our wounds."

Rak'mar jerked in shock as Zkst'akr spoke from beside him. "Good idea. We szhould keep going."
Amazingly, the blue dragon seemed to be the only one without some kind of cut or slash.

"Wounds? What wounds?" Ikam'ma joked, despite the fact she was the one most heavily covered in scrapes and cuts from the griffins' sharp claws and beaks.

Like a stranger in unknown lands, Omnus Stormrider arrived in the land known then only as Khrrck. Gazing about intrigued by the new landscape, Omnus silently trudged onward towards his goal, his piercing gaze eating up the view. In the distance, Omnus recognized the shape of several massive flying creatures. Knowing immediately that they were the false dragons that his masters had spoke of, Omnus ascended into the sky and flew towards the creatures.

As he got nearer, Omnus recognized the presence of several smaller creatures flying around the dragons. Upon closer examination, Omnus realized that they were griffins.

Smiling broadly, Omnus unsheathed his great sword, the Hellblade, his eyes blazing as he prepared for battle…

"I wonder who he is..." Ikam'ma pondered with quiet caution.

She strained to get a better look at the strange figure.

"Hey, that guy doesn't look to different from us, but he's part human! And he's got some kind of fancy sword." She noted, suddenly ready for battle again. "Why's it out, though...?"

Omnus bared his teeth in anger as he realized that the dragons had seen him. Roaring like a thousand typhoons, Omnus closed with the dragons.

"False Dragons, thou shall be slain by the power of the Hellblade!"

Nearing one of the dragons, Omnus swung the blade...

minor point, but Ginaz...
[quote="I"]The events of this topic do not take place in Khrrck, but in the Wyrms' long-lost homeland. For more information about the Wyrms and their history, see this topic (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127421&highlight=).
I think you can see what I'm pointing out.]

Zkst'akr probed the man with tendrils of Air. Strange... He's human, but not quite...

He dove between the dragons and the man. Zkst'akr recognized the type; Human, strong, brave, thinks he knows it all, has a magic sword, wants to kill a dragon. Hero. Hah.

"False Dragons, thou shall be slain by the power of the Hellblade!"

With a flick of his wings, Zkst'akr flipped deftly out of the way of the man's sword, absent-mindedly noting his strange accent.

He hovered a short distance from the man, and called out. "Hatchling, if you know what'sz good for you you'll leave usz alone."

Ikam'ma growled and bared her teeth at the strange foe.

"False dragons? I don't know what you think you're talking about, but you're way overmatched here. Back off, alright?" She commanded, though her voice wavered slightly at the speed with which the sword came hurtling down, and flapped her wings backwards to put some distance between this enemy and herself.

COME BACK TO LIFE!

<Random Evanescence lyrics>

(OOC: I'll post something tomorrow... Sorry about the delay... :oops: )

[OOC: Finally, it's back!]

((Kicks the thread in the ass for almost dying.))

[OOC: Hello?]

((Hi! So, is there an IC post in the house?))

[OOC: Not until Ginaz turns up.]

(OOC: I'm SoG's puppetmaster...)

Omnus Stormrider moved back a bit, calmly eyeing the group of creatures that seemed to be dragons, but he knew weren't... He frowned in confusion, for these false dragons seemed so much like the long dead race of Storm Dragons... Needing time to think and consider his course of action, Omnus retreated a bit and challenged the wyrms.

"False Dragons, surrender to thy fate! Bow before the power of a Dragonlord and reveal the source of thy creation and the corruption of thy soul!"

[OOC: I'm writing this from a Dell Inspirion 7000 laptop running Red Hat Linux, using Mozilla. Whee!]

"False Dragons, surrender to thy fate! Bow before the power of a Dragonlord and reveal the source of thy creation and the corruption of thy soul!"

Zkst'akr snorted derisively. "Kid, you've got some serious problems. 'False'? I'll have you know that our history goes back at least eight thousand years, not counting the legends. And I'm not about to bow before any so-called 'Dragonlord'. I can think of at least twelve ways to kill you right now, and most of them would be quite painful."

Narrowing his eyes in anger, Omnus moved forward a pace, his Hellblade raised. Omnus snorted at the false dragon's impertinence and in an angry tone, he said, "Dragons are sacred beings, forged through the powers of magic, created for the sole purpose of defending this world... You are no being of magic with no purpose but to destroy life... A true dragon possesses honor and intelligence, while you are naught but a bumbling idiot."

Laughing mirthlessly, Omnus continued, "I am a Dragonlord, created through the magics by the fusion of the last true dragon with a mortal child. I have a mind that has lived for twelve thousand years, although my current state has only existed for eighty years. You cannot kill me, as my fate is to die not here, but sometime on the plains of war in the west. Tell me, who created you? Who dared to forge false dragons? And what is thy purpose for existing?"

Zkst'akr's voice went cold and flat. "I'll do you a favor. I'll answer your questions, then deal with your insult."

"We were created by the First Dragon, thirty-nine thousand years ago. As for my purpose for existing... do I need one?" Zkst'akr swooped forward, stopping a mere twenty feet from Omnus. "Now, about your insult."

Zkst'akr grabbed Water and Air and wove a glowing blue cube around Omnus, made of air hammered and frozen into something harder than steel. "Could a bumbling, magicless idiot do this?"

Omnus laughed coldly as he watched unimpressed by the false dragon's pathetic magic. Calmly, Omnus watched as something engulfed him. Smirking at the idiocy of this false dragon, Omnus became ethereal and slowly came out of the cubic prison.

Returning to his normal, physical state, Omnus laughed as he said, "I am far from magicless, young one..."

Narrowing his eyes in anger, Omnus in a dark, cold voice said, "You have just bitten off more than you can chew... Prepare to feel the wrath of a true dragon..."

"I think not."
Zak'mar grinned mirthlessly. "Feel free to come back when you've calmed down."

Zkst'akr lashed out with Air, Space, and Light, spinning a greenish web of light around Omnus. It crackled for a moment and then vanished, taking Omnus with it.

*****************************************************

Mk'shak blinked increduously. Even he didn't recognize that spell. "Where... Where'd you send him?"

Rama'ka examined the rapidly-dissipating remains of the spell. "I'd say... the Prt'ka Hills... about eight hundred and sixty-two miles away. Impressive. I didn't get thrown that far."

Mk'shak glanced back over his shoulder at Rama'ka. "Someone's used that spell on you before?"

Rama'ka nodded. "It's not too useful. Only works once, since if you've ever had it used on you, you know how to stop it. The target has to have magical ability, and you can't use it on yourself. You can determine how far you throw your target by varying the amount of power, but the direction is random."

She tilted her head towards the spot where Omnus had been. "As you can see, it has its uses. Zkst'akr, I didn't know you had mage- Where's Zkst'akr?"

Zkst'akr was hovering off in the distance, away from the other dragons.

Rama'ka sighed. "Well, I can always talk to him later."

*****************************************************

Thk'mak's voice resounded from behind the mages. "Come on. Let's get moving again. We've got another hundred and twelve miles to go."

Ikam'ma just stared. This one dragon was more mysterious than she could comprehend. Certainly there was more, and the ever curious red dragon wanted to find out. She hung back from him, as the electical blue dragon seemed seething at this ignorant man that dared to call them false. She planned to aproach him later, but for now, she kept her usual flamboyant profile about her and followed Thk'mak as he blurred across the landscape.

[OOC: Ah, Ginaz, I should tell you where I've teleported Omnus to, shouldn't I?

The Hills are in a generally SW direction from where the dragons were.
It's dry, a sort of plain, with rolling hills and no obvious settlements. Omnus should materialize... let's see... about sixty feet above ground level in a small valley. The valley is carpeted with dry brown grass, and with a rocky escarpment on the western hilltop.]

Omnus winked into existence sixty feet above the floor of the valley below. Glancing about in annoyance, Omnus surveyed the ground below, noting the rolling hills and the utter lack of settlement. Frowning, Omnus descended to the ground, curious about the land and its stark difference from his home.

Walking slowly about the uneven ground, Omnus frowned as he kneeled upon the ground and plucked a small wildflower from the grassy plain. Taking a small whiff of the scent of the flower, Omnus grimaced at the flower's sour and bad smell...

Thk'mak braked to a stop above a wide, snowy ledge. "We've got a bit further to go, but let's stop and tend to our wounds."

***************************************

Rak'mar settled gingerly onto the ledge, kicking up snow as he landed.

Mk'shak waded through the snow towards him. "I hate snow. It's too cold. Give me a nice hot desert any day."

Rama'ka snorted from the other side of Rak'mar. "Get used to it, kid. You'll be seeing a lot of it up here."

Rak'mar curled up in the snow. "It's not bad..."

Rama'ka blinked. "You know, I think I've never heard a dragon say that about snow in my lifetime. And that's saying something."

Zkst'akr strode across the wide ledge towards the three dragons. "Rak'mar, you've got a medkit. Could you..." He paused, eyeing a slash in Rak'mar's left wing membrane. "That's a nasty szlaszh you've got there. Juszt a moment."

Zkst'akr craned his neck to get a better view. "Thisz will hurt szome."
Blue light shone over the slash in Rak'mar's wing, leaving a faint white seam behind.

Rak'mar shifted uneasily. "That did hurt... Thanks, Zkst'akr."

Zkst'akr nodded, then reached over and unhooked the medkit from Rak'mar's harness. He walked off awkwardly towards the other dragons, hopping on three legs and holding the medkit with his fourth.

Mk'shak watched him go. "Rama'ka?"
"Yes?"
"You were going to ask him something."
Rama'ka sighed. "Yes. I forgot. I was thinking about snow."
"What about snow?"
"Well, is there such a thing as a pair of identical snowflakes?"
Mk'shak shrugged. "I don't know. You could find out... choose a snowdrift somewhere, and rig a spell to search through it for pairs."
"Good idea. How exactly would you do it?"
"Well, you could start with Morlach's Categorization..."

***************************************

Reka paused in her buisness when she heard a loud boom over a nearby hill.

The sand-colored Wyrm ran up the hillside and peered over. The first thing she saw was a man in dark-colored armor, kneeling with a flower (Skunk-daisy, she noted automatically.) in his hands.

The second thing she noticed was a patch of copper-colored grass.

Reka took a deep breath and shouted. "Excuse me, but you're sitting next to a patch of razorgrass. I'd move away, if I were you."

[OOC: *prods topic*]

Omnus glanced up briefly when he heard another large false dragon speak in some strange tongue. Shaking his head in confusion, Omnus dropped the flower upon the ground and stood. His hand raising the deadly obsidian blade in his hand.

Glancing at the false dragon, Omnus inquired, "Who are you? What manner of creature are you, false dragon? Speak!"

Reka blinked. "What? You don't recognize a Wyrm when you see one? I've got nothing to do with dragons, pal. I'm Reka, I'm a caravan guard, and I make a hobby of studying plants. Razorgrass can cut sheet metal."
Reka stood up on her hind legs and pulled something resembling an oversized crossbow from a sling on her back. She sighted along it at Omnus; she was obviously experienced with her weapon.
"Now, I suggest you put that oversized kitchen knife away before you hurt someone. I've never met armor that a krazak'tor couldn't cut."


The sounds of argument in Wyrm (a human-influenced dialect of Dracon) drifted over the hill.

"If you don't open that bloody relief valve, your bloody boiler is going to bloody explode!"
"But the gauge says-"
"I don't bloody care what the bloody gauge says! That bloody boiler is bloody leaking! If you let the bloody pressure get any higher-"
"Okay, okay. Just stop yelling."
With a loud whistle, steam fountained into the air behind the hill.
"Is it possible for you to talk without swearing?"
"-I knew using bloody power crystals instead of bloody coal was a bloody mistake-"
"Shut up!"
"Sorry. I just bloody swear when I get angry."
"Whatever."

Bump?

Where are you, 5CN/Ginaz? What about you, Cyberutopia?

Raising his eyebrow in curiosity, Omnus slowly sheathed his obsidian sword into its sheathe strapped to his back. Staring quietly at the false dragon, Omnus slowly eyed her, noting the similarities with the long dead Storm Dragons.

His tone incredulous, Omnus asked, "What are you? What is this land?"

Reka flipped her weapon back into its sling and dropped back to all fours. "I'm a Wyrm. Sandstalker clan... although there isn't much sand here. You're in the Prt'ka Hills, just off the caravan route. You're lucky. If you had turned up a few hours later you'd have missed the caravan, and this place is dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."

She turned and disappeared over the hill. "Come on over this way. If you stand around away from the caravan you're likely to be attacked by a behemoth."

"Behemoth?" Omnus inqueried. This land seems very strange... Very different from my homeland, but beautiful, nevertheles... Omnus turned as he surveyed the caravan, frowning upon the massiveness of the creatures guarding it...

((Sorry for not being around. I've been working on crew for the school play, and it sucks up all my free time. I'll try to post as often as I can.))

Ikam'ma settled gently onto the snow encrusted ledge with a flap of her wings, and promptly collapsed onto one leg. She mumbled something incoherent, and struggled to rise again. Failing at that, the small dragon curled up into the snow and attempted to lick her myriad of wounds clean.

"Griffins...never fight fair..."

Zkst'akr spoke quietly from behind Ikam'ma. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that if you fight fair, you won't last long."

The electric-blue dragon, easily six times her size, examined Ikam'ma intently. "Fighting honorably is good, yes. But if you do it all the time, someone, sometime, is going to drop the tunnel on you." He dropped the heavy case containing the medical supplies and nosed it open with his snout, exposing racks of thick crystal bars.

"Take one of the green ones and bite it. It'll hurt, but it'll close up the smaller wounds, and the bigger ones will stop bleeding and won't get infected."

*********************************************

The caravan was definitely not your standard horse-and-wagon affair. Sitting on the rough dirt road were two trains of wagons. Each was headed by something like a six-wheeled cart plated with iron, with a smokestack protruding from the rear and a armored hatch on top.

Along either side of the carts, off the road, two rectangular, armor-plated things with six black steel legs lay at rest. A complex assembly of rails and tubing was mounted atop each. A square plate of armor had been removed from the one near Omnus, and a pair of Wyrms were peering at the tubing inside.

Reka spoke absently as she made her way down the slope. "Behemoths are nasty. Like a slug the size of a horse. Their skin has some very nasty magic. One touch, and you die horribly unless you've got a good mage nearby- Yekah!"

A Wyrm had popped unexpectedly out of the grass in front of Reka. Unlike the other Wyrms around the caravan, this one was black, and almost ten feet long. He had a pair of sheathed swords strapped to his back, and they were a good five feet long.

The black Wyrm sighed and dropped back to the ground. "Sorry, Reka. I thought you were a grass-cat." He eyed Omnus uncertainly. "Who's this? You captured another bandit? No, that armor's too good. Who are you?"
The black Wyrm peered up at Omnus's sheathed sword. "I'm Takam." he said, absentmindedly. "Obsidian? What happens when it gets scratched? You can't forge obsidian. Take my advice; unless it's a magical weapon of some sort, trade it in for a good steel blade when you can."

Omnus laughed at the lack of knowledge of the newly appeared Wyrm. When queried about his name, Omnus replied in a strident, confident tone, "I am Omnus Stormrider, the last of the Dragonlords." When queried about the beautiful blade strapped to his back, Omnus drew the Hellblade free from its sheathe, revealing the beautiful diamond and obsidian blade to the Wyrm. "This is not normally obsidian... It is a fusion through magic of the best blade forged from diamond with a outer coating of flexible obsidian, giving off its black sheen... It is much better than a standard steel sword... If you don't believe me, we can always test it out..."

Takam nodded, slowly. "A test sounds good to me..."

Takam stood up, bracing himself on his hind legs and tail. He drew his swords slowly, carefully. They were black, with a bluish sheen. "Dragon-forged steel. Strongest metal short of matrix iron. But matrix iron won't hold an edge."

"So."
Takam brought his swords whirring up into a guard position, blades crossed in front of his snout. "Strike, Dragonlord."

Omnus smirked as the false dragon brought up its sword in defensive position. Without even touching his sword, the Hellblade flew out of its sheath and headed for the sword. With blinding speed, the Hellblade struck the steel sword and went straight through it, leaving no tangible marks...

(OOC: The sword should crumble in about a minute, unless magic saves it...)

OOC - tag

[OOC: Should I close this topic? We don't seem to be getting any more participants...]

Takam winced as Omnus's sword passed through his without resistance. "Impressive. Very impressive."

He peered at his sword, which was beginning to rust. "Very impressive. A decay-spelled sword? Ingenious." Green light flickered over the sword, stripping away rust and shoring it up against the effects of Omnus's blade.

Takam sheathed his swords with a deft flip and held out one clawed hand to Omnus. "Glad to have met you. We're heading to the Glass Basin. You can come along if you like, and I can arrange for one of the clan flyers to take you to wherever you're going. We're only about a day away from the Basin."

((My friend Arbia is going to join the thread, if you let her. I believe she sent you a TG about joining. Then you could close it, I would think.))

Ikam'ma grinned at Zkst'akr gingerly.

"I suppose you're right. It's not all that friendly up here, I've found." She responded in a grateful tone, taking a green bar of crystal.

The red dragon bit down hard on the crystal, and grimaced at the mild sting. After a few moments, the red splotches on the snow ceased to expand, and Ikam'ma stood, albeit shakily, and gave another draconic grin to the blue dragon.

"Thank you for the medicine, and the advice. I'll follow your wise words carefully. But you probably already could tell that." She said.

[OOC: Should I close this topic? We don't seem to be getting any more participants...]

Takam winced as Omnus's sword passed through his without resistance. "Impressive. Very impressive."

He peered at his sword, which was beginning to rust. "Very impressive. A decay-spelled sword? Ingenious." Green light flickered over the sword, stripping away rust and shoring it up against the effects of Omnus's blade.

Takam sheathed his swords with a deft flip and held out one clawed hand to Omnus. "Glad to have met you. We're heading to the Glass Basin. You can come along if you like, and I can arrange for one of the clan flyers to take you to wherever you're going. We're only about a day away from the Basin."

Omnus warily took the hand and shook it, still a little awkward about shaking the hands of a false dragon. Inwardly, Omnus shrugged, as he attempted to counter the prejudice beaten into him by his predecessors.

Nodding his head, Omnus replied, "I do not know where I am going... But you will have my thanks if you can help me find what I am looking for..."

D'karta glanced over her shoulder at the villagers, the men brandishing torches, the women pots and pans. She grimaced and continued to run, working herself out of her cloak to free her wings for flight.

'Humans,' she thought derisively, snorting out a bit of smoke. 'When bandits are attacking they can't get enough of me. But once I've scared away all the bandits - then they get it into their thick skulls that I'm some kind of demon.'

Having built up enough speed, she jumped up - and never came down. As she winged her way out of bow-range, she looked down at the village of Tarsheen one last time.

D'karta scowled at her cowardice. 'I could have fought them... but what would that have done?' she thought, trying to reassure herself. 'Of course, a real dragon wouldn't have let a bunch of humans bully her. Only a weak half-breed would do such a thing.'

Frustrated, she blew more smoke out of her nostrils, then glared at the grey plumes. "Stupid smoke! A real dragon can breath fire, not just smoke!" Angry with the villagers, herself, and her situation, she sped off towards one of the few places she hadn't tried yet: the north.

[OOC: -ing forum... I wrote this, then it didn't go through, so I had to write it all over again.

Arbia, I hope you don't mind me calling in a unlikely coincidence in the interests of getting you somewhere where you can interact with the other RPers, and specifying the location of the village your half-dragon is fleeing from as about twenty-five miles to the south of the ledge the dragons are on, in a narrow valley.]

Zkst'akr grinned down at the little red dragon. "Glad to be helpful." He lowered his head down beside Ikam'ma's and continued, quietly. "When we get to the outpost, remind me to give you a few magic lessons. You may be small, but you're a dragon, and I can teach you a few tricks."

Zkst'akr nosed the case shut, picked it up in his jaws, and waded through the snow towards Sk'mak.

********************************************

"Well, then. You can ride in Strutter Aiko, with me."
Takam grinned, exposing a disconcerting array of pointed teeth.

He dropped back to all fours before walking off slowly towards one of the six-legged machines. "What is it you're looking for? You can find a lot of things in Glass Basin..."

Ikam'ma smiled after Zkst'akr as he trudged off to help the others.

"Maybe he's not as reclusive as I thought." The red dragon thought to herself. "I doubt I'll be that great at magic, though. It's nice of him to make the effort."

OOC: alrighty then ^_^

IC: D'karta looked over her shoulder at the double-bladed sword which, although it had gotten her out of many a situation, was now weighing her down. She didn't understand why she was getting so tired, so weak - she always had her sword with her, it was like an extension of her body.

She tried to think back to what had happened in the last few days... The villagers had been friendly enough... 'Fooled me,' she thought dazedly. She had taught the little children how to make their sling-stones fly further... scared off some wolves... caught the last few bandits... then they had made that wonderful dinner for her, with the strange herbs...

'Strange... oh Gods, they wouldn't actually... even if they wanted me to leave, they wouldn't try to... not... Dragons... bane... me...'

She lost the last of her energy and plummeted into the snow.

'I'm such an idiot...'

OOC: I just realized I started two posts with her looking over her shoulder... just to tell you, D'karta is not paranoid...

((Sure she isn't, sure.))

OOC: cyberutopia, you suck. and by the way... you don't owe me three dollars (is it old yet?... >_<')

((Way old, considering I think I owe you 1.50 now.))

[OOC: Guys, guys. Calm down. I'll post tomorrow.]

((We're just playing around. Ok, OOC talk ending!))

"Nevermind what I'm looking for," replied Omnus to query, "I will reveal this in time." Without another word, Omnus gazed at the machine and wearily moved to climb atop...

[OOC: Well, this time it wasn't the forum's fault. I was expecting to get on yesterday evening, and I didn't get the chance.

I think I'll stop saying "I'll post tomorrow." Anyway, I have no idea what a half-dragon looks like, so you'll have to provide a description.]

Zkst'akr nodded to Akr'ka. "How does it feel now?"

The young, green-scaled dragon swiveled his head around to peer at his wing. "I'll be able to fly. It's..." He trailed off into silence, peering over his back. "I saw something crash into the snow over there."

Zkst'akr snorted. "Probably a snow eagle. Well, they're called snow eagles, but they're more like giant hawks. They kill things by diving on them. Makes a big splash in the snow when they hit."

Akr'ka shook his head. "That was no bird."
Zkst'akr blinked. "Hrmm. There's plenty of flying things that aren't birds. Wyverns, giant bats, flit-snakes-"
"You don't get flit-snakes around here."
"I know that. Wyrm windsailers, certain kinds of demon, cliff-ghasts-"
"Enough already."

"Colddra-" Zkst'akr stopped in mid-word. "Anyway. I can't szee what'sz under there. It's probably a cliff-ghast that got-" He stopped in mid-sentence, then shouted. "Rak'mar! You're the biggest, get over here!"

Zkst'akr spoke briefly out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes fixed on the spot of disturbed snow. "Thk'mak, we've got someone to rescue. Rak'mar, follow me."
With that, Zkst'akr took a few brief strides and dove off the ledge, with Rak'mar a few seconds behind.

********************************************

"Who is it?" panted Rak'mar, between wingbeats. He was having to struggle to keep up with the electric-blue dragon. "More to the point, what is it?"

Zkst'akr put on a extra burst of speed, his eyes still locked on the patch of snow where the creature had fallen. "I have no idea. All I can tell is that it's sentient, and that it's got some magic. Could be a dragon, could be a mage or wizard." He cupped his wings and descended near-vertically. "It landed in deep snow, which probably saved it. It hit hard enough to bury itself." Zkst'akr touched the ground gently, somehow managing to sink only a few inches into the snow.

Rak'mar hit the snow hard, and sank in up to the base of his wings. "Where is it?"

Zkst'akr didn't reply, but strode gracefully across the snow and stared intently at one particular spot, which began to steam gently.

Rak'mar sighed and waded forward through the snow. It was oddly easy. His body seemed to know what to do; wings folded and held above the above the snow, and feet spread out to distribute his weight. The snow seemed to be harder where Zkst'akr had walked, so he stuck to that.

Zkst'akr was crouching next to a gently steaming hole in the snow. The snow in the center of the hole was sublimating away into steam, and the walls of the hole glistened like ice.
"Zkst'akr, won't you scald it when you reach it?"
Zkst'akr shook his head. "Not hot enough. Come closer."

Rak'mar stepped forward. Sure enough, the hole was only slightly warmer than the surrounding snow. But the warmth felt...odd. Slightly uncomfortable.
Rak'mar suppressed a faint urge to step back and curl up in the cold snow.

Zkst'akr hissed and shifted slightly. "Only a few more inches to go."

The snow in the hole dropped lower, slowly.

********************************************

Takam tilted his head. "Ah, well. Anyway, you'll have to get in first."

He clambered up the side of the machine and levered a hatch on top open with his teeth. "Climb in there and crawl in the back. Don't bump any pipes, they're hot. There's a human-style seat in there. Sit in it, and I'll come down after you and buckle you in."

El Proddo Topico

Warily, Omnus climbed atop the infernal contraption. Sitting down warily at his seat, Omnus sighed. Glancing about, Omnus swore at the heat and closed his eyes, concentrating on lowering his body temperature...

"We're ready to go!" yelled Takam, before he dropped through the hatch into the strutter.

Takam squeezed back, coming dangerously close to a hissing pipe as he strapped Omnus in. "This is essential, or you'll bounce all over the place."

Takam clambered forward and lay down on a long, straight couch. He nudged a lever with his head, and a flat sheet of metal in front of him lit up with a fuzzy, 360-degree image of the strutter's surroundings.

"Turret ready?" yelled Takam. Another Wyrm yelled down through the hatch. "I'm ready. Closing the hatch." The hatch clanged shut, shutting off the outside light.

Takam muttered under his breath, and a crystal fastened to the roof lit up with a clear, white light. A moment later, the strutter lurched and began to move forward, moving with an awkward, jerky stride that covered a suprising amount of ground and jolted the cabin rhythimically.

Sweating profusely from the intense heat, Omnus swore silently under his breath. Suddenly, Omnus’s body began to change, the hard, black armor disappeared, replaced by a light, loose-fitting tunic, allowing Omnus more freedom of movement along with lighter clothing. Sighing under the change, Omnus began to look around as the thing moved…

Ikam'ma's red snout poked out over Rak'mar's shoulder curiously.

"What's happening here?" She asked, her nose crinkling slightly. "Smells like dragonbane. A lot of it, too."

OOC: I'm lying in bed with a headache and I can't fall asleep because I feel guilty for not posting... darn you, cyberutopia! grrrr.
also OOC: Khrrck, did you get my character description?

Something was warm. Wonderful... warmth... D'karta wanted to go closer to the warmth, but her body was so heavy she was having trouble breathing. She became dimly aware of a pain in one of her wings, tried to open her eyes, and passed out from the effort.

Zkst'akr blinked as the last of the snow melted away. "A half-dragon. Well, I'll be..." He sniffed. "Dragonsbane, alright. A huge dose of it."

Zkst'akr reached into the hole and slid his claws gently under the half-dragon, lifting her out of the hole and setting it on the snow beside it. "And a broken wing. This is serious."

Zkst'akr took a step back and made a noise deep in his throat.
It was a strange noise; something like a glacier moving down the side of a volcano during a lightning storm. A buzzing, roaring groan, which managed to be both loud and indistinct at the same time.

Rak'mar could have sworn Zkst'akr lit up for a moment, before he staggered and collapsed. The half-dragon's wing looked much better, and wasn't hanging limply like it had.

A clump of half-digested herbs appeared in mid-air and dropped into the hole in the snow.

She woke up again and flinched as something was sucked out of her stomach. Her wing... it didn't hurt anymore... had she just dreamed it being broken? Had she really been driven from the village, poisoned? She didn't feel that cold anymore... was she in her cave by the village, or was she in the snow? She didn't want to open her eyes, afraid of what she would see: the cave's roof, or the lack thereof.

Slowly, she managed to lift her eyelids and look up.

At the sky.

And the huge blue-white dragon that was standing over her.

She attempted to stifle her gasp but didn't quite manage to do so. There was a dragon in front of her. A real dragon. Her slit pupils expanded and shrank rapidly as she tried to calm herself down. A dragon... just like her father, a real dragon. She tried to sit up, it was disrespectful to be lying down... she wanted to thank him properly... but a wave of dizziness washed over her and she blacked out again.

Ikam'ma inched closer to the half-dragon as she stirred, and finally stood over her right after she had slipped back into the black ether of unconsciousness.

"She doesn't seem to be the most resilient half-breed." The red dragon commented, looking over the half-dragon's once broken wing. "That was some amazing work you did with her wing. What did you do, anyway?"

Zkst'akr took a deep breath. "Fused...the bone." he gasped. "Getting rid of the dragonsbane...as well...took a lot out of me." He took a few wobbling steps back and collapsed into the snow. "I'll be all...right in a...moment or two. Telekinesis...takes a lot of energy."

"What do we have here?"
Rama'ka dropped from the sky and sank into the snow beside the half-dragon. Sk'mak made a more sedate landing behind her. "A half-dragon? I've never seen the like before."

Rama'ka nosed the half-dragon with her snout. "Anyone here ever seen a half-dragon before?"

Thk'mak shouldered his way past Rak'mar and stood silently for a moment. It was the first time Rak'mar had ever seen him speechless.

Finally, Thk'mak spoke. "Yes. Yes, I have."

Is it just me, or has Sk'mak never, even once, been mentioned in this RP before?

OOC: Is it just me, or has Sk'mak never, even once, been mentioned in this RP before?

[OOC: Ack. Yep. Sk'mak's a dragon in one of my other RPs. I get him mixed up with Thk'mak way too often...]

[OOC: OK. Fixed that embarassing little mistake. (If you see Sk'mak again, assume I mean Thk'mak.)

Speaking of mistakes, the Twins seem to have disappeared. Perhaps they deserted. Yeah, that's it. I'm not about to reintroduce them; I'd just forget them. Sooner or later Thk'mak will notice they're gone.]

OOC: a couple of dragons go missing and no one notices...?
OOC again: sorry about the double post

OOC: a couple of dragons go missing and no one notices...?
OOC again: sorry about the double post

((Hey, that's the Ice Blades, I guess. :roll: ))

[OOC: Exactly...
"I thought they were with you."
"I thought they were with you!"]

El Bumpo Supremo!

OOC: sorry i've been gone so long... is this thing still going?

[OOC: It would be... if you'd make a post.]

(OOC: Can your machine thingy start moving?)

OOC: alrighty then. I thought I was still unconscious. Apparently fainting due to shock is a short thing...
IC:
D'karta woke up for the third time and willed herself not to faint again. Stupid human reaction. She stood up as quickly as she could and nervously (and rather stiffly) bowed.
"You have my eternal gratitude for saving me, Sir," she said quickly, still bowing. "I, ahhh... if there is anything I can do to repay you, I will gladly do so."
Slowly, she straightened and gazed up at the dragon - the actual dragon - standing in front of her.

OOC: she's not scared, she's just nervous as hell.

Takam glanced over his shoulder at Omnus. "Impressive."

The strutter jolted, and Takam snapped his attention back to the image of the strutter's surroundings, deftly side-stepping the machine around a cluster of rocks.

*********************************************************

Rama'ka blinked at the half-dragon in front of her, apparently somewhat taken aback. "Er. Well, we should get out of this snow before we all sink out of sight. It's very deep here."

Rama'ka eyed the little half-dragon speculatively. "You're in no shape to fly. I'll have to hoist you."

D'karta tore her gaze from the dragons and looked over her shoulder at her wing. It didn't hurt anymore... but she knew that if she moved it, it would re-break. She looked back up at the beautiful green dragon who had spoken to her.
"Ahh... okay..."

Ikam'ma looked over the half-dragon, awed into silence. She walked halfway around her, and stopped.

She forced herself to speak. "I'll help, we'll go faster that way." She bowed her head to D'karta. "When we get back, I'm sure everyone will want to hear your story."

With that, she flapped her wings once and jolted into the air, her wings strongly stroking against the wind to keep her airborne just a meter or so off the ground.

Rama'ka caught the half-dragon's glance at her wing. "Nah, looks fine to me. But it'll be fifteen minutes or so until it can bear flight loads. That's assuming you heal as fast as we do."

Rama'ka bent her knees, spread her wings, and leaped into the air. She caught the wind and spiraled into the air, moving away from the cluster of dragons on the snow.

Rama'ka's voice drifted down from above. "Brace yourself!"
She tilted her wings and descended, gliding gently down towards the half-dragon, claws extended and open.

As she skimmed the ground, Rama'ka slid her claws under the half-dragon and lifted her gently into the air.

The green dragon held the half-dragon gently as she beat her powerful wings, lofting her through the sky towards the snowy ledge.

Cocking his head to the side, Omnus said, "Where are we going to!?!" attempting to be heard. He sighed when he realized that the machinery was drowning out his voice. Shaking his head, Omnus closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep...

D'karta forced herself to not close her eyes as the great green dragon swooped down for her, and didn't regret it. Air rushed by her as she was borne aloft to experience a different kind of flying - more powerful, uncontrollable. She had the sudden urge to laugh, but held it down, afraid that she might offend the beautiful dragon who was carrying her.

Ikam'ma's eyes glinted with playful jealousy at the graceful green dragon's show of power. The red dragon, tiny by comparison, shot straight upwards, whirling in tight circles. She intercepted, then overshot Rama'ka's much calmer, swooping flight within seconds and her wings bolted open, bringing her to a complete halt before she angled her sleek body to glide after the green dragon.

[OOC: Sorry for the delay, folks.]

Rama'ka flashed a fanged grin as the little red dragon flashed past. "Enthusiastic. I like that."

The green dragon glided sedately through the air towards the cliff. "Okay. Brace yourself."

Rama'ka locked her wings and drifted downwards. As she slowed, claws almost brushing the snow, she released the half-dragon gently before gliding a few hundred yards to a soft landing in the snow.

***************************************************

Zkst'akr glanced at Thk'mak. "I'll be wanting to hear about that other half-dragon soon."
Thk'mak replied absent-mindedly, tensing his muscles for takeoff. "You will."
Zkst'akr nodded, and followed Thk'mak into the sky, heading towards the ledge. Rak'mar followed, slowly.

***************************************************

For two hours, the strutter jolted on. Then it stopped with a jolt.
Takam tugged at a bank of crude switches and scanned the display, apparently searching for something.

OOC: when i use italics in a random way, it probably means that whatever's italicized is being thought... (or maybe i forgot to do the '/i' ^_^)

D'karta managed to tumble into the snow (instead of falling), and easily picked herself up out of the cold white blanket. Easily? She really was feeling better. She let herself elatedly laugh a little, now that the dragons were a ways away. Then she took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and began to slog her way through the snow towards the dragons.

OOC: when i use italics in a random way, it probably means that whatever's italicized is being thought...

[OOC: Common narratory convention. I use it too. No need to explain.

Cyberutopia seems to use italics when describing actions. I rather like the style, but I think I'll stick with my own.]

[OOC: Cyberutopia?]

(OOC: I'm still here...)

OOC: do i need to make another post? umm...

IC: D'karta continued to force her way through the cold snow. There had never been this much snow back at the village, nor this thick - but the village had been on a low hill, while it seemed she was now in a valley between high mountains. Not that she was paying much attention to the terrain...

As she drew closer to the dragons, her heart beat faster and her wings began to twitch.

OOC: ... yeah.

[OOC: Damn! I wrote a post... than lost it... sorry for the brevity.]

Rama'ka smiled at the scared little half-dragon. "Don't worry. It's not like we're going to eat you."

Zkst'akr flared his wings and made a soft landing behind her. "Damn right. The rest of the Blades would be on us like a ton of rocks if we ate a sentient. Besides, most of them taste bad."
"Zkst'akr, you're not helping."

Brace yourselves... seven kilobytes of text on its way!

OOC POST

Here's some long-overdue information on the world and its inhabitants.

World: Overview

Name: Chroma.
Area: Unknown.
Topography: Spherical.

According to the astronomers and geographers, who know of such things, Chroma is, technically, a sphere. In practice, it's a bit stranger.

As you journey near the edge of the Known Lands, things change. Magic works differently, not at all, or functions perfectly, apparently at random. Tales have been told of double moons and green skies. Strange mechanical monsters are glimpsed at the edge of sight...

Very few explorers venture beyond the Known Lands. And fewer still have been known to return.

World: Map

The Western Lands (not to scale)


GGG,,,,,GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
oM,,,,,,,MMMMMMMMMMMMoGMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,fff^MMMMMMMM^^MMMMMM^^^^^.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,ff^^0^MMM^^^^^fffMffffff...
,,,,,,,,,,,,,^^^^^^^^^----ffffffffffff..
,,^^MMM,,,,,,,^^^---------ff--ffffff%fff
o^MM*-MM,,,,,,,^----.......f---fffffffff
,,,MM^M,,,,,,,,+---..o...fff-----fffffff
,,,,,,,,,,,,,-------...fff-----------fff
,,,,,,---------^^--^---------=---^^-----
,,-------ddd-^^^^^ddddddddd---dddd^^^dod
ddoddddddddddddd^ddddddddddddddddddd^ddd
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWoWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
N
W+E
S

Key:
"," - Sunset Ocean
"." - Freshwater
"G" - Glacier (Northern Ice)
"M" - Mountains
"f" - Forest
"^" - Hills
"-" - Grasslands
"d" - Desert
"W" - Waste
"o" - Dragon Outpost
"0" - Crater City (Subterranean)
"%" - Forest Lair (Valley)
"*" - Khr Caves (Subterranean)
"+" - Sunset Bay
"=" - Savannah City

Races: Human

Habitat, sorted by population
Villages (everywhere, esp. forest & mountain valleys)
Savannah City
Forest Lair
Sunset Bay
Crater City

Races: Wyrm

Habitat, sorted by population
Caves, tunnels, mines (everywhere, esp. hills & mountains)
Khr Caves
Sunset Bay
Crater City
Savannah City

Races: Dragon

Habitat, sorted by population
Caves (AKA Lairs; mountains, forest, southern plains)
Forest Lair
Savannah City

Races: Jzna (minority race)
The Jznans are a race of lupine humanoids. They live a mostly solitary, carnivorous lifestyle in the forests. The Jzna produce some exceptional engineers, surpassing the Wyrms in certain aspects of magical and mechanical construction.

Rumor has it that the Jzna are the descendants of a small group of Changed humans.

Habitat, sorted by population
Forest
Crater City
Forest Lair

Races: Rahoni (minority race)

The Rahoni are a race of fiercely proud, feline humanoids. Most of them live in nomadic tribes across the grasslands, accompanied by their shamen.

Some of the best wizards in the world are Rahoni shamen.

Habitat, sorted by population
Grasslands
Crater City
Savannah City

Races: Changed

The Changed are composed almost entirely of members from other races who have been hit with blasts of raw magic, either because it was used a weapon against them or because a spell backfired against them.

As their name suggests, the Changed have mutated in strange ways, producing an assortment of strange creatures with an equally strange assortment of odd and unusually powerful abilities.

Seeing more than a single Changed in one place is an unusual event, except for in Crater City.

Races: Crossbreeds

Crossbreeds are even rarer than Changed, but they do happen.

The relatively common combinations are:
Changed/Changed
Human/Jzna
Human/Rahoni

Sometimes, one of these rare combinations occurs.
Dragon/Wyrm
Dragon/Changed
Human/Changed
Jzna/Changed
Jzna/Rahoni
Rahoni/Changed
Wyrm/Changed
Wyrm/Human

Except for vague tales told in taverns, these combinations are never even heard of.
Dragon/Human
Dragon/Jzna
Dragon/Rahoni
Wyrm/Jzna
Wyrm/Rahoni

Dragons: Life Cycle

Dragons start out as eggs. They grow inside the shell for three to four months before hatching and becoming hatchlings.

After about a month as a hatchling, dragons can fly. After about three years, they can breathe fire.

Dragons grow quickly until, at around 10-13 years old, they reach the twenty-foot mark, and adulthood.

Adult dragons continue to grow slowly until they reach thirty feet, around the age of twenty. While their growth does not completely stop, even there, it slows down immensely.

As a dragon gets older, its flame gets hotter. Strength and constitution grow slightly, while dexterity drops as a dragon gets larger.

When dragons get really old, at around 200 years, they turn to hermithood, venturing out alone and living solitary lives. They contemplate their memories, sometimes amass small hoards, and eventually disappear, never to be seen again.

Not even the dragons know how long their life span is. The hermits have never been seen to die of old age; they simply become hard to find before vanishing altogether.

Dragons: Other

Heat & Cold
Dragons like hot places, like the southern grasslands and the desert.
Dragons can survive the cold of the northern mountains and glaciers unprotected, but fiercely dislike it.

Lairs
Dragons tend to form lairs. Roughly equivalent to a human village, a lair is usually a cave system or sheltered valley. The average population of a lair is about 15 to 30 dragons, with members leaving and arriving from other lairs on occasion.

Tutoring
Young dragons teach hatchlings in groups of four to six how to hunt, fly, and flame. Older dragons teach them history and Common, the near-universal human trade language.

Especially promising young dragons are taught in groups of one to four. The older dragons teach them such things as reading, geography, and logic. Sometimes, especially talented dragons are taught magic.

Magic
While almost every dragon is capable of some degree of magic, the older dragons tend to select students from the group of dragons that are, in the teachers' opinion, intelligent and reasonable enough to use it correctly.

From this group, the dragons with enough natural talent to make the teaching job worthwhile (again, in the teachers' opinion) are selected to be taught.

BUMP!

((Yes, I haven't been around lately, that new Bond game is fun, heh.

Since there's occasionally some confusion, let me lay it all out.

"This is speaking."

'This is thinking.'

This is action.

This is for headings of official documents.

This is for location headings, if there are mulitple locations in a post (otherwise I won't bother).

Just to let you know.))

Ikam'ma landed with a soft "poof" of snow next to Zkst'akr, and indulged in a grin that showed her needle-like fangs as she heard the joke.

"Wonder what she's crossed with..." She whispered over to the blue dragon.

Takam flicked another crude wrought-iron lever and looked back over his shoulder at Omnus. "We're almost there. Hold on. The crater's a little... strange."

The strutter lurched into motion, following the road towards a gap between two hills. A dull rumble arose behind it as the wagon train moved sluggishly back into action.

The display showed a brief glimpse of a giant crater, shining like glass, before-
-it turned green and switched off in a shower of purple sparks-
-the strutter began to lurch and jerk eratically-
-crystals exploded in showers of sparks, sending tendrils of magic racing across the pipes and braces.

The strutter lurched and jerked as it moved. A pipe cracked and began to leak oily smoke.

After what seemed like a eternity, the strutter finally came to rest. The screen flickered and came back on, showing a blurred image of a cave wall as the strutter let off steam and sank to the ground.

Takam sighed and slumped in the control couch. "I hate having to do that." He nodded towards the hatch in the ceiling. "Could you get that open? There's smoke in here."

[OOC: I know you're back, Cyberutopia, but where's Arbia? Is she back on too?]

((I'm going to see if I can get her back into the thread.))

OOC: found the thread! A-mazing! now I just have to get back into character... and get ready for college and those other insignificant details...

[OOC: Glad to see you're back. Anyway, you're not alone in visiting a new educational institution this summer.

You can expect to see me around somewhat less starting August 16th-17th, as that's when high school begins. I doubt it will make that much of a dent in my output, though; I just won't be able to post at practically any hour of the day, like I usually do.]

((Ok, I'll just hang around and wait for Arbia's next IC post. And...Khrrck, you're going into high school? Would have thought you were older than that, your writing is coherent and mature, unlike some others of your age *cough* But that's a good thing, so keep it up. Ok, on with the show! Or...RP...or thread...or...yeah.))

OOC: excuse me, Cyberutopia, who are you *cough cough* referring to? Yourself? ^_^

IC:
D'karta took a deep breath, tried to regain her calm, but failed as she realized that now she was going to have to explain what she was. Anyone but a total hick human could tell she had dragon's blood... but no one would ever leave it that. People always wanted to know what else she was - what her mother had been - and just as often as they considered her demonic for her father's heritage, they considered her demonic for her mother's as well.

But these were dragons. They wouldn't hate the Changed, would they?

She came briefly out of her reverie to hear the great blue dragon's joke. Her scales turned pink-tinged as she blushed at her own nervousness and smiled sheepishly.

Thk'mak landed heavily in the snow and took a step towards the small circle of dragons some distance away.

Hrssh-click-click-click-clonk. Crunch.

Thk'mak lurched and crashed into the snow as his mechanical leg folded underneath him.

"Kz'chak mrrkcha! Snow in the gears..."

****************************************************

Zkst'akr smiled gently down at the little green half-dragon. "Don't worry. We'll start simple... I'm Zkst'akr. This is Rama'ka,"-he gestured with his snout-"and this is Ikam'ma. I'll introduce the rest of us later."

Rama'ka smiled. "Pleased to meet you. What's your name?"

Ikam'ma gave a friendly snort of greetings to the half-dragon before lifting into the air with a heavy flap. She half-flew, half-hovered over to Thk'mak and landed next to him.

She stiffled a giggle. "Need some help?"

Thk'mak glared at the little red dragon. "Yes, you frivolous brat, I need help. I think one of my linkages is blown."

He tried to stagger to his feet, but his mechanical leg only made clanking noises and refused to move. "Flame it... it's either a push rod or a chain... I think it's a chain... damn Wyrms can't build a machine that can take snow. Look in that casing and tell me- wait, it's closed..."

Thk'mak eyed Ikam'ma speculatively. "You're small enough. Put your claws in the slots there"-he tilted his head towards a panel in the upper half of his iron leg-"and pull. Tell me if anything inside looks broken."

Ikam'ma merely stared at Thk'mak before crunching off again through the snow.

"Fix it your flaming self." She muttered. "Sorry for asking."

Thk'mak's tail lashed out and tripped Ikam'ma.

"Insubordination is not tolerated." he snarled. "If you want to stay alive out here, you follow orders. You can hate me if you wish, but when I tell you to do something, you do it. No exceptions."

The black dragon leveled his gaze at the little red dragon. "Now, come back here and get that panel open or you'll find out what a acid burn feels like."

The snowcaked red dragon very slowly, very deliberately rose from the dragon-shaped packed snow where she fell and stalked over to Thk'mak.

Ikam'ma was not one to hide her feelings. "Then it's settled; I hate you. If you want more positive results, I suggest you do a little thinking and figure out how to build morale. There's a reason we're out here in the Ice Blades, and that means you might need to adapt a little bit to get the results you want. That aside, I'm sorry, sir."

She crouched next to his leg, and before long she had gotten the panel open. Her head decended a little and she snorted in revelation.

"Yeah, it's a chain." She told him. "What now."

Thk'mak sighed resignedly. "I'm in trouble. You can't flame-weld chains, and I don't think you can get a grip on those little things, small as you are. As for magic... Mk'shak's good at blowing things up, but I think repairing chains is a little beyond him. That little half-dragon might be able to put a new chain on, but I don't think we have any..."

Thk'mak grimaced at his mechanical leg. "I guess I'll be limping on three legs for a while... maybe a very long while, if we can't make or find a chain at the outpost. That make you feel any happier, Ikam'ma?"

Her firey eyes rose to meet her Thk'mak's. "I'm never happy when someone on my side is disabled. You're still my superior, and I need to do what I can to help you, whether or not I like your attitude. Zkst'akr knows some magic, think he'd be able to help at all?"

"Um, my name's D'karta," she replied. "It's a pleasure - and an honor - to meet you." She bowed a little in greeting, then looked back up at the dragons, waiting to see what they would say next.

OOC: ... are you guys gonna post? like, ever? ...
oh, and Cyberutopia, how was your first day of school? *grins evilly*

((I'm just waiting for Khrrck. My first day of school was pretty good, since you weren't there! Ahaha, I'm just kidding. We all miss you...))

OOC: aww, how sweet ^_^. are you in journalism again? and who do you have for english this year?

((McMullen. I know her because she hosted the Halo club last year. Nice lady. A lot easier than Bonnell.))

OOC: dude. like, every english teacher is easier than bonnell. actually... hmm, at least in bonnell's class you knew what he wanted you to do... n/m, i think nate johnson is harder. ::shrug:: hey, so are you in journalism or what?

((But of course. Hopefully I'll be able to be the Op-Ed editor! Yayz. But I think we're hijacking Khrrck's thread maybe just a little too much. If he's even still paying attention.))

[OOC: Sorry about the delay, folks. I'll try to get a post done tonight if I can. My schedule recently hasn't really allowed time for NS recently. But from Friday afternoon on I should have time to get things moving again. Thanks for your patience.

Don't worry about hijacking my topic... it's perfectly reasonable, and actually kind of interesting. Cyberutopia is in Journalism, too? Interesting...]

[OOC: PH33R my speed-writing SKILLZ!]

Thk’mak blinked. “Mm. Yes, him. I tend to forget about him… strange, he’s not that unremarkable. He might be able to do it. Could you ask him, please? I'm not much for moving right now...”

**********************************************

Zkst'akr snorted. "Spare the formalities, please. We're not exactly the cream of the crop. I won't ask about your history right now- I don't think you'd like that. I think we need to get moving, anyway... Where's Thk'mak?"

The electric-blue dragon glanced around himself and spotted Thk'mak lying in the snow. "Khrrz'khiza, what's happened to him? Excuse my backwash."

Zkst'akr launched himself off towards Thk'mak in a sort of wing-assisted lope, calling back over his shoulder. "Rama'ka, could you come along? I don't know what sort of help he needs. Rak'mar and D'karta, could you come too?"

Rama'ka glanced at Rak'mar, then D'karta. "D'karta, your legs are so short you'd have trouble keeping up with us... Rak'mar, could you give her a ride?"

Rak'mar smiled and laid his head on the snow next to the little half-dragon, muttering out of the corner of his mouth. "Right behind the head is the best place. Hold on with your legs... I won't let you fall."

Ikam'ma gave a nod and a snort of confirmation, and turned around to hail Zkst'akr. She noticed he was already coming, with back up, and turned back around.

"Yeah...he's coming." She told the disabled dragon.

D'karta grinned shakily as she made her way onto the great dragon's neck. She trusted that he wouldn't let her fall, but after that other dragon had healed her wing, she was fairly sure that she'd be able to at least slow her descent were the impossible to happen. She twitched her newly-healed wing, and realized that she might even be able to fly on her own. But she wouldn't be able to keep up with the great dragons, and anyway, it was best to accept their courtesy. And besides, she was excited to be this close to a real dragon.

OOC: omg, i just moved into my dorm... omg... omg...
OOC: oh, and i have a ripped version of photoshop for my mac. boo yeah!

Zkst'akr made an impressive landing next to Thk'mak, plowing up a cascade of snow.

"What's going on?"
"Can you fix broken chains?"
"Broken chains? I can try... No guarantees, though."

*******************************************

Rak'mar lifted his head gently off the snow, hoisting D'karta into the air, then set off at a gentle walk alongside Rama'ka.

Rama'ka was silent for a time, then spoke.

"Rak'mar..."
"Yes?"
"Rak'mar, you're not leaving tracks."
"Wha?"

Rak'mar stopped with a lurch that nearly threw D'karta off his neck. "That's impossible. I weigh too much to walk on the surface of this stuff. How can I-"

The snow crunched as Rak'mar dropped through the top layer and sank several feet into the loose powder.

"-be standing on top of it? Sihak!"

D'karta barely caught her balance, then looked over the great dragon's shoulder and nearly fell off again as he sank into the snow. "It looks like you have snow-feet, like the ice bears and the white wolves," she said without thinking, then realized that Rak'mar might not take kindly to being compared to animals. "Umm, I mean, no offense. It just... um... yes," she ended lamely, and decided to keep her mouth shut.

[OOC: If you're wondering about the delay, I'm waiting for Cyberutopia. I might make a post anyway if she doesn't show up in a few days.]

((Well, first off, I'm a guy IRL. >.< Secondly, I don't know what I could do at this point, so if you had something in mind, I'd be glad to oblige.))

[OOC: Hrmm. You never really seemed that way to me. Well, if you can't think of anything, I'll make a post this afternoon, when I should have LOTS of spare time. In the meantime, why not make your Games intro post?]

((An excellent idea. I sorta forgot about that, since I've been going of on a bit of an RP marathon with AmandaTheGreat. I'm in three of her threads right now, soon to be four...lol.))

(OOC: Ack... Where did this thread pop back from!?! Anyways, I'm here if you want to continue...)

[OOC: Join back in, 5CN! I need to get the plot moving along, and your part of the story can help with that. Plus I have a nice post all waiting for the right moment to stick it into your part of the storyline.

I'm going to start using snippets (sometimes slightly edited) from songs. If you can figure out what song they're from... well, you won't get anything, but I'll be impressed. Looking the lyrics up on Google is considered cheating, by the way.]

Thk'mak sighed. "So try. Don't talk, try."
Zkst'akr nodded and craned his neck over to Thk'mak's leg. He frowned.
"That looks bad. The end's all mangled. Let's see..."
The electric-blue dragon began a deep, volcanic rumble in the back of his throat.

None of the usual lights and noises that usually accompanied magic made an appearance, but the ground seemed to tremble in sympathy.

Inside Thk'mak's leg, the broken piece of chain quivered, jumped, and finally moved like a snake. The two ends snapped together...

...and the entire chain fused together into a single solid piece.

********************************************

Rak'mar looked down on at his feet. "I know I have snow feet. I've had them since I was born. But you still leave tracks, even with snow feet."

He looked back over his shoulder, careful not to dislodge D'karta. "Look at that. Do you see my tracks? Any of them? I can't. I don't know what the hell is going on."

Just what kind of dragon am I, anyway?

Rak'mar gazed back along his tracks, lost in thought.

********************************************

You must go to the east, go to the west...
The road is rocky and the way is far.
It's a dangerous trail, a difficult quest,
If you want to know what you really are...

OOC: sorry it took me so long to post, guys, after none of you posted for a week I kind of stopped checking for a while...

IC:
"Erm. Well, no, I don't see any tracks... umm." She fell silent as Rak'mak stared off into the distance. She'd been living in the wilds half her life, but the only creatures she had ever known to not leave tracks were the floaters, like beholders and hummingbirds. Never something that actually walked on the ground. Never a dragon.

[OOC: Sorry for the absence... if I seem to be doing that again, please, please pester me...]

Furthermore, we've been procrastinating for too long, methinks. On with the show... to more exciting places and more exciting plot events...

Oh, and make that "snippets from songs and other places." I'll still be impressed if anyone recognizes one... remember, I'm using them in GWF too.]

"Fire and ice, Zkst'akr, what have you done now?"

Thk'mak tried to work his mechanical leg. The claw worked fine... the shoulder worked... but the knee joint was frozen in an awkward half-bent position.

"Well, at least I can hobble... We should get moving. It's getting dark, and we might not make it to the outpost before sunset."

Zkst'akr squinted up at the sun. "I'd say we definitely won't make it, but this is not a place to spend the night."

Thk'mak struggled to his feet and nodded. "Riight... Rak'mar! Rama'ka! D'karta! All you lot! We need to get moving!"

******************************************************************

Rama'ka nudged Rak'mar with a wingtip. "C'mon. We need to get moving."

Rak'mar shook himself out of his reverie and started walking towards the group gathering around Thk'mak, taking care not to dislodge D'karta.

Ikam'ma nodded her consent and stared off into the icy horizon.

"I hope you have a plan..." She mumbled.

alden this is nuts. its very impressive that youve committed to something like this and excelled. im really really really impressed. but now you cant say i havnt checked out your threads ;) . ttyl buddy.
randy of RJBeaton

[OOC: Anticlimax, anyone? Glad to see you're (sort of) here... although from the little you gave I gather you're not interested in participating. Ah, well... Where's Arbia got to?]

Then Ikam'ma ASPLODED the WURLD in a THERMON00KLEAR ASPLOSION!

((Better? XD I'm sorry, but this is kinda going around in circles. If we could just scoot on a little further, maybe there'd be something more interesting we could come up with if there was a new environment to work off of. I'm still interested, really I am, I just don't know where to go from here.))

[OOC: We'll be going places really soon, I promise you that. I've got a general outline for the story worked out, but we need Arbia to get moving.

Oh, and RJBeaton might actually be turning up here or in GWF; I think this thread is in more dire need, actually. We'll see.

Oh, one more thing. I AM going to get GWF going again in the near future. I'm just a little busy at the moment.]

It was twilight, and the dragons were gathered in a clearing in the forest. It was uncomfortably silent, and a light snow was falling. The

dragons were tired from a long day of flight, and worried about what might meet them on the next day.

Rak'mar broke the silence. "Zkst'akr?" he said, quietly. "You've been many places. I'm sure of that. Will you tell us a tale to brighten the

night and keep the cold at bay? I'm worried..."

Zkst'akr nodded silently. "I'll tell you all a tale," he said. "A tale of the Beginning, but perhaps not as you have heard it."

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began.

"Once..."

*********************************************************

Once, all dragons were one tribe, and they lived in peace. The dragons had the power of flight and the power of magic, and such was the

limit of their powers.

Then, one year, the youngest began returning from their hunts with tales of strange lights in the sky, echoing noises from beyond the

horizon, and feelings of a time of great change. Some believed them; others, especially the eldest, did not.

Finally, one day, the youngest dragon spied a great white form flying in from the north. He flew to tell the others, and they gathered as the

great white dragon landed in the field before their home.

And the white dragon spoke unto them, saying, "I am the First, and I have come to give you three gifts." She waved a wing, and a full third

of the dragons felt called, and stepped forward.

The First spoke unto those before her, and said, "First, to you, I give speed and agility. You shall be the fast ones, the proud adventurers,

and your power will be the power of the fire." She breathed upon them, and her breath was white flame. The fire dragons glowed with new

colors, and their colors were the colors of the fire.

Then the First called forth a second third, and said, "Second, to you, I give strength and hardiness. You shall be the powerful ones, the

unstoppable adventurers, and your power will be the power of the ice." She breathed upon them, and they glowed with the colors of the ice.

Then the First called forth the last third, and said, "Thirdly, to you, I give wisdom and quickness of mind. You shall be the thoughtful ones,

the curious adventurers, and your power will be the power of the sky." She breathed upon them, and they glowed with the colors of the sky.

There was silence. Then the oldest, one of the Fire, asked, "What price do you ask for these gifts? What do you demand in return?"

The First smiled, and said, "I ask nothing but that you exist, and bring your own magic to this world. Every world should have its dragons,

and I am the one who brings them."

And so the days passed, and the First taught the dragons the use of their powers. But the oldest dragon, Khazan, was not content with his

one gift, and one night, as the First slept, he wove a mighty spell and stole the gifts of ice and sky from the First, taking them for himself.

That morning, the First gathered the dragons about her, and told them of what had come to pass. "Is there one," she asked, "who will chase

Khazan down, as far as he may go? For at this moment I revoke the gift I gave him, and he is now posessed of three stolen gifts. Who will

take from him what is not rightfully his?"

For a long moment, none of the dragons spoke. All feared the power of one who could steal gifts from the First. Then, finally, the youngest

dragon, the one who had seen the First arrive, stepped forward, and spoke. "I, Arhak, shall chase Khazan, and hunt him to the ends of the

earth. I shall reclaim the gifts he has stolen, and give them rightfully back to you."

The First beckoned him forward, silently. She spoke to him, so quietly that none else could hear. "Are you sure that you will undertake this

task? Khazan is powerful, he is old, and he knows much. Are you sure?"

Arhak nodded, quietly. The First drew her head back, and spoke, quietly: "Then I revoke from you the gift of the power of the sky..."

Arhak's colors faded, leaving him as he had been.

"...and I give to you agility, strength, and wisdom. You shall be the one who walks alone: Z'ksharak Raskr, the lonely adventurer. Your

powers will be the powers of the fire, the ice, and the sky." The First breathed upon Arhak, and his color was pure white.

"Now go forth, Arhak," said the First. "Use your power as you choose. Chase him to the ends of the earth, and confront him wherever you

might find him. It will be a long and bitter chase. And once he is finally defeated... well, we shall see what comes after..."

*********************************************************

Zkst'akr trailed off, quietly. "There's a great more to the tale," he said, quietly, "but I think that is enough. Sleep well."

With that, he curled up and sent to sleep.

(OOC: You're still running this!?! :eek: )

[OOC: I hate to let a good story go to waste. Admittedly, this story is old. But it can still go places.

I could probably weave you back in if you like. Of course, this thread may still die. It remains to be seen.]